


Paradise

by Lovedrr



Series: Romanogers pic-fics [3]
Category: Captain America (Movies)
Genre: F/M, Romance, romanogers - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-09-29
Updated: 2017-08-17
Packaged: 2018-02-19 00:47:32
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 10
Words: 45,629
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2368061
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lovedrr/pseuds/Lovedrr
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Lost on an uncharted island, the soldier must use unusual methods to save the spy…</p>
<p>NEW CHAPTER, 10: A glimpse of the future! (Romanogers Reverse Big Bang)</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Disclaimer: No copyright infringement intended.  
> Note: The image can be better viewed on my tumblr Lovedrr tagged 'pic-fics', [lovedrr.tumblr.com/post/98729526775](http://lovedrr.tumblr.com/post/98729526775/). Image source: Marvel Swimsuit Special Vol 1 #3 (1994)

* * *

**Paradise**

* * *

Cold.

Freezing cold.

It was the first sensation he recognized. Although he retained no conscious memory of being frozen in ice all those years, Steve Rogers could remember the way he felt when the doctors were waking him up.

And it had felt a lot like this.

Yet, this was a little different. Even though there was ice all around him, he could still manage a small range of motion. He moved his head slightly, and caught sight of a particular shade of auburn that he knew he would recognize even if he was blind.

Steve turned his head to see… Natasha… trapped in the ice with him. She was beside him, her eyes closed with her arms outstretched over her sides, almost as if in a cross position. Her lovely face almost seemed serene and peaceful as glints of sunlight sparkled off the ice around her eyes.

However, there was nothing peaceful or serene about this situation. They were in freezing ice. His body could probably withstand it, but no matter what derivative of his serum she had been given, he knew that hers wasn't designed to handle this.

The super soldier's body went into overdrive.

Steve's eyes focused.

Suddenly, on top of the ice lake surface above them, a large section of the ice was shattered into a million pieces. It almost seemed as if a bomb had exploded under the surface. Steve's blonde hair and blue uniform rose almost majestically out of the ice, the crystals falling down around him almost as if in slow motion. He quickly stepped up onto the frozen solid surface, pulling his mighty shield with him.

He knew he wouldn't need it.

Dropping the shield and raising both hands up above his head in a power fist, Steve swung down in a single powerful strike. The surface of the lake bed shattered again, this time resounding with massive cracking sounds as the elements gave way beneath Steve's strength.

Then, he reached down and wrapped his arms under Natasha's shoulders to carefully pull her up.

The spy immediately began to stir, and she suddenly looked up at him in confusion as she took in their surroundings.

"Steve?" she asked in surprise. "Where are we? What… What's going on?"

"Just hold onto me," he said quickly.

Steve's heart rose within his chest at Natasha's reaction. Without hesitation, she turned and wrapped her arms around his neck and held on tightly. The Black Widow didn't trust many people, if anyone at all. The way she responded to his voice in the midst of uncertainty gave him a glimpse of what he meant to her. From Natasha, this act of trust was monumental.

"Keep holding on," he whispered as she drew one of her pistols from its side holster and held it at the ready as she again checked their surroundings.

Sliding one arm under her thighs and the other around her waist, Steve began to sprint the short distance over to the shore. Just as he set foot on the snowy shore, he heard the loud clack of the gun dropping onto the ice.

Still floating in his arms, Natasha held up her hand and looked at it. It was shaking almost uncontrollably and quickly turning a light shade of blue. She couldn't feel her fingers.

"St… Steve," she whispered as she looked at him. "Hypothermia."

"I'm on it," he responded with haste.

The super soldier carried the spy a short way up a small hill near the frozen lake close to a forest area. Sweeping his feet under them, he cleared off a wide circle of space beneath them and lowered her down in its center. His analytical mind took note of the fact that the snow covering the ground was only light and breezy, almost like a cluster of lone snowflakes. It should have been much more rigid if the temperature was cold enough to freeze the lake completely through. He filed that information away for later and leapt back into action.

He sprinted back down to the lake and retrieved his shield and her gun. Then, he ran back toward Natasha. When he reached the shoreline, he drew back and swung his mighty shield in a wide arc. The powerful disc impacted off one tree beside the clearing and then ricocheted off two others in a semi-circle before swinging back to Steve's hand. He caught it and maintained his smooth stride up the hill. Each of the three trees had been split perfectly, and their severed top halves landed in front of Natasha in a near perfect crossing patten. Reaching them, Steve quickly scraped his shield hard across the wood, instantly igniting a small fire. He then fanned the flames to give them strength. Surprisingly, the atmosphere wasn't very frigid, but he couldn't let Natasha's condition get any worse. He had no idea how long they had been under that ice.

The spy looked up at him and managed a smile. Her body was shaking and trembling uncontrollably, and she couldn't feel her own skin at all. Her lips were trembling and her muscles were clenching, and she used her arms to cover herself in an attempt to generate what little warmth she could.

It wasn't working. She was freezing. She was fairly certain that it wasn't life-threatening, but it was extremely unpleasant.

Steve was more worried than Natasha. After making certain that the fire would endure, he stepped over to Natasha and sat down behind her, extending his legs out on either side of her and pressing his thighs against her waist.

He then leaned forward and wrapped his large arms tightly around her, drawing her firmly back into him and enveloping her small frame. He held Natasha's trembling body close and tight, trying to add his warmth to her own.

"St… Steve?" Natasha whispered quickly.

"Yeah?" he answered.

"Not … working," she said through teeth that were nearly chattering. "We … We need … shared bodily warmth. Like … survival … training."

He had already thought about that. He just hadn't planned on suggesting it.

"Right," he answered quickly, standing up behind her.

Despite all her trained detachment, which she had been slowly trying to lose in favor of attempting to live something of a normal life, she had to fight to resist the urge to turn around. All reports stated that the super soldier was absolutely the perfection of the human male species. Natasha was a deadly assassin, but Natalia was still the woman inside her, and contrary to popular opinion, she did sometimes feel some measure of womanly desire. She had been feeling much more of these intermittent pulsing desires ever since the first day that this gorgeous man had been brought back to the world. She didn't want to embarrass Steve, but she was totally certain that he wouldn't have anything to be ashamed of. Still, the thought of his discomfort more than anything else kept her from ogling him.

Steve stripped off his suit and hurriedly sat it down next to the fire to warm. With only a little hesitation that he hoped she didn't notice, he again sat down behind her and reached forward to grab her uniform zipper to pull it all the way down past her navel. The spy hurriedly shimmied her arms out of the top of the uniform and let it fall past her shoulders. She then pushed it down to her waist. The slender spy leaned to her side and waited for Steve to follow through. They had become flawless partners over time, learning each other's hints and clues and responding without fail. After only a moment's hesitation, she felt his large strong hands pulling the garment down over her waist. The redhead shimmied her hips to help slide it down to her thighs, and then she leaned forward to slip off her boots and the rest of the uniform. With her hands still shaking profusely, she leaned forward again to finish undressing.

Natasha suppressed a slight gasp as she felt Steve's large muscular arm slip underneath her thighs. Bracing her slim back against his broad chest, the soldier lifted her as if she had only the weight of a mere leave and was a delicate as a flower. She watched him spread his heated uniform below them before he lowered her back down to the ground so gently that she barely felt it. The warmth of it did very little to help her condition.

After a few more moments, Natasha felt the hard, hot, and heavenly feel of his glorious pectorals pressing against her back. Noting that she didn't shy away from their skin to skin contact, Steve slid forward and enveloped her chilled body. He raised his knees up, and kept her thighs set between them. Then, he wrapped his muscular arms all the way around her torso and placed his hands over her own on her shoulders.

She could just start to feel the warmth emanating from his enhanced metabolism which always kept his skin heated. He held her close and tight, and although the spy felt vulnerable and exposed since she had no control over the motor functions of her freezing body, she reluctantly accepted the safety and comfort of his arms.

The spy had always felt so cold inside, and the soldier's warmth seemed a perfect counterbalance for her. They held each other for several long moments.

Being this close to Natasha, which had unwittingly happened in his dreams far more times than he cared to admit, Steve was surprisingly able to control his mind and keep it from wandering, but controlling his body was a different matter entirely. He had felt a slight arousal, despite the cold, when he had helped her to undress, and he had told himself that surely there would be no increase of this given their situation. Having her soft, velvety skin against his own, it seemed, proved to be too much. Unable to use his legs to restrain his anatomy, he had carefully tried to tuck himself low under her, hoping not to cause an issue.

That hope was fading fast. She just felt too tender, too vulnerable, too good. He felt movement below. He sincerely hoped she wouldn't notice.

No such luck.

"Wow," breathed the sexy redhead with a smile in her voice. "Even this cold doesn't stop your metabolism?"

"What?" asked Steve.

"Well, is that a shield in your pocket or are you just happy to see me?"

"Oh! I'm sorry, Natasha," Steve said quickly, starting to slide himself back from her. "Sorry about that. I…"

"No. No. It's okay, Steve," she told him, taking a firm hold of his fingers to keep his arms around her. "I'm just joking. It's okay. Really. I'm just feeling drowsy from the cold and I'm trying not to pass out. I'll take it as a compliment."

Steve hesitated for a long moment before he relented. "Okay, if you're sure?"

"I'm sure," she looked back up at him to show him her smile. "You shouldn't be embarrassed. You certainly have nothing to be ashamed of. It's just a physical reaction. I understand."

"I… I don't mean to offend you, you know?"

"You can't offend me, Steve," she said comfortingly. "I've gotten to know you a little over the years. I'm good with you."

The two of them gazed into one another's eyes for a long moment. Both of them glanced down at the other's lips, but kept themselves from moving forward. After a short tenseness, they let the moment pass, and snuggled into one another again.

Their little awkwardness had produced a surprising effect. They felt closer to each other, even more comfortable, sharing a unique intimacy together. Natasha drew a deep breath and laid her head back, allowing him to lay his cheek against her own. They stayed that way for a long time, both of them deriving more comfort from this closeness than they had imagined.

"You rest. I'll keep watch," Steve said quietly as he watched her eyelids flutter.

"Where are we and what are we doing here, Steve?" the spy drowsily wondered aloud.

"We're going to find out. Rest now," he said comfortingly.

Steve watched as her lovely face slumped against his cheek. Instinctively, he drew her even closer, holding her more tightly to keep her warm. He knew that she was going to be fine. It was morning, and the rays of the sun seemed to be heating up the atmosphere almost unusually fast. He decided he would put the fire out soon. At this rate, it would be a strangely scorching day.

The analytical soldier evaluated their surroundings. The locale was actually quite beautiful, perhaps the most idyllic scenery he had ever laid eyes on in all his travels. In the process of defrosting, the lake was sparkling like a diamond as the sunlight fell over it. The snow was a pure gleaming white, unlike any he had ever seen before. The air was crisp and clear, and his heightened senses deduced that it was devoid of the normal pollution of everyday life. This place seemed like something out of a dream.

Wherever they were, they seemed to be safe for now. The only thing he had to be concerned about … was the beautiful woman in his arms. He held her close and tight, trying to warm her body ... and her heart.

* * *

Some time later, Natasha's eyes sprang open suddenly as she sat up with a gasp.

"Steve!" she cried out.

Her chest was heaving as she tried to catch her breath and her skin was flushed and sweaty. She hurriedly looked around her to get her bearings.

She was in some kind of a small tent. Steve had either found shelter for them or had erected it himself from survival things he had gathered. She knew that he was a very resourceful man. While her ingenuity had been learned and practiced, she greatly admired his natural ability to overcome any obstacle placed before him. It was just one of the many things about him which stirred this reluctant attraction within her.

The spy tried not to admit to herself how much she missed the feel of him around her. She couldn't stop thinking about the way he had touched her. He had held her as if she were his most precious jewel or his most treasured gift. Steve had always had a captivating manner about him which she had tried to resist. With her, he had exhibited the perfect combination of the chivalrous gentleman and the manly brute. While the reputation of The Black Widow caused most men to fear to even speak to her or much less touch her, the soldier had never hesitated to manhandle her. He had shown no reticence when he had draped her over his hip to escape an exploding bomb, when he had slammed her against the wall in the hospital, when he had crushed her body against his own as he had thrown them out of a crashing car, or when he had held her protectively against him as an entire army base had exploded around them. The spy often had to try to not think about just how much her skin liked his touch.

Right now, her skin was burning up. The noon day temperature felt like it had to be near one hundred degrees. In her travels, she had been all over most parts of the world, and she had learned to gauge temperatures fairly well. It seemed almost impossible to have been cold enough to freeze a lake earlier and now be hot enough to boil an egg in the sun.

The garments covering her didn't help her situation. The chivalrous soldier had left her with his uniform over her and her worksuit underneath her, effectively providing a makeshift bed for her to sleep on. The spy couldn't suppress a grin. The man knew how adept she was at combat, how she had a high threshold of pain, and how formidable she was in battle, and yet he still went out of his way to try to make her feel like some kind of princess. Things like this could make it difficult for her to remember to keep him at a distance.

Well, she certainly wouldn't need this clothing in this heat if she didn't want to pass out from either dehydration or exhaustion. With a deft skill, the spy slipped a knife out of her uniform and began to cut it apart. She decided she would leave the spare material in good enough condition to be used as protection against the elements if needed. As she worked quickly, she could hear his approach off in the distance.

* * *

Steve walked around the far edge of the lake toward the tent slowly. His search had found no sign of communications, but he had found many indications of previous life there. The trip had turned into a scavenger hunt. There had been many useful things left laying around everywhere, from poles already tied together to large scraps of cloth to even some scuba gear which had been left behind.

He had made certain to erect a small protection for Natasha before journeying farther, making a precise mental map of their environment. The temperature of the day had quickly risen to a scalding heat, and he had made his last and farthest circle of the area in just his waist combat undergarment and his shield. Natasha would need some food to fully regain her strength now, and he was anxious to get back to her.

To his surprise, she was already up and moving, seemingly in near perfect health as she walked out of the tent and made her way down toward him. Steve gazed up at her as he walked up from the lakeside, and his mouth involuntarily fell open.

Her beauty was stunning as she walked down toward him. She had made short work of her uniform. It was now made into a kind of makeshift bra top, leaving as much of her torso exposed to the air as possible. Her thin, well toned athletic waist was also open, but the heat still caused a light sheen of sweat to make her body glisten in the sunlight. She wore her black underwear underneath a wrap of her uniform which she had tied around her as a kind of towel dress. Her slim legs and feet were bare as she walked with perfect balance on the uneven sand toward him.

Steve couldn't take his eyes off of her. Natasha was stunningly gorgeous like this. The sight of her was more captivating than all the beautiful coastlines in the world.

When he spoke, his voice gave her pause. He didn't speak to her like a soldier talks to a comrade, or as a partner talks to a sidekick, or even as friends address one another. He spoke to her … the way a man speaks to a woman.

"I knew you would look terrible in a bikini," he said in a husky whisper.

Natasha was unable to find her voice. Her lips moved slightly, but no sound issued from them. She inaudibly cleared her throat and then tried again.

"Thank you, Steve," she said warmly. "For taking care of me. I owe you again."

With those words, she stepped forward and leaned up to kiss his cheek. Steve stepped toward her and leaned down, turning his head slightly.

The kiss she had intended for his cheek… touched the side of his mouth. Their lips brushed with a gentle, subtle contact, but neither of them pulled away. After a long moment, they finally stepped back, trying to ignore the obvious tension between them. She managed a brief smile to accommodate his awkward grin.

"You're welcome," Steve whispered intently.

Then, moving very slowly and deliberately, Steve stepped forward and leaned down toward her again. His large hands settled tentatively on her hips, just barely grazing her.

However, this time, their lips didn't graze at all. They kissed full on. Steve's lips moved against Natasha's firmly, and just this soft contact immediately opened up a world of desire for both of them. No matter how hard she tried not to, the spy was unable to resist the impulsive urge to open her mouth and deepen the intimacy of the moment. Their tongues touched and their breaths deepened. Her small hands found their way to rest on his firm broad chest before sliding upward over his shoulderblades to tangle in his golden hair. His hands then took a strong hold on her hips to draw her closer until her supple breasts pressed against his torso. After what seemed a moment too long and infuriatingly too short, they parted and stepped back from one another. Both of them were breathless and near panting, but they tried desperately not to let it show.

"How was your little … morning jog?" the spy said, a thinly veiled attempt to restore some semblance of normalcy to their relationship.

"Well, we're definitely alone on this island. No one in sight for miles. There are a lot of things left around from other inhabitants, but for now its completely deserted."

"So, what is this then?" Natasha asked with a wide grin. "Are you supposed to be Gilligan and I'm Mary Ann? Or are you the Professor and I'm Ginger?"

"What?" Steve said with a deadpan expression.

"It was a tv show called Gilligan's Island," she told him with bright eyes. "It was about seven castaways stranded on a deserted island and…"

"I know what it was," he cut her off firmly.

Natasha's happy gaze faltered under his stern tone. Then, his glare morphed into a boyish grin, and she smiled back at him. Unlike when she joked with him in the army base about the movie 'Wargames,' this time there was no danger around them, and they could enjoy the levity of the moment.

"Is there a way off this island or are we really marooned here?" she asked.

"There's a central cluster of islands off the coast. We have a better chance of finding comms there. You sure you're well enough to travel?"

"Try and keep up, super soldier," the spy said as she strode past him at a brisk pace. "Can you travel when they close the Smithsonian fossil exhibit?"

"That's hilarious," he said, unable to hold back a laugh.

This was going to be quite an adventure.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading this and I hope you enjoyed it! This idea was originally envisioned as the beginning of a much larger project, but I wanted to post it as a pic fic to find out if any readers would like to see more of this story. Please send me your thoughts and comments!
> 
> Also, please review the works of my dear friend and beta Ym4yum1! Her writing is excellent and she is a tremendous inspiration! You shall love her!
> 
> Thank you everyone!


	2. Chapter 2

The entire island was alive and vibrant. A strong and constant breeze rustled through the lively trees, all the streams and lakes continuously ebbed and flowed loudly, and the bristling foliage seemed to almost sing a beautiful song of life.

Natasha Romanoff wasn't sure if she was in the midst of the best moment of her life or the worst, but for her, it was certainly the most interesting. Steve Rogers was by her side, and he was directly the reason for her uncertainty. At the moment, they were traveling through a small, incredibly dense rain forest. The vines and shrubbery were thick and covered everything.

To her pleasing dismay, the soldier wouldn't let go of her as they moved. Despite her earlier bravado, the spy had almost immediately began to succumb to hypothermic aftereffects. As soon as they had neared the edge of the tree line, she had felt her body lose partial control of its motor functions, her limbs felt boneless and weak, and she had a migraine headache which was pounding so bad that her vision became blurred at times.

She was still coherent enough to take notice of the many useful items laying all over the ground as Steve had stated earlier. There were several axes, machetes and other bladed weapons laying at the edge of the forest. She glanced at her partner with a wry smile before leaning down and picking up a classic katana with an ornate case and handle. He grinned approvingly.

The Captain stared at the ground and forest warily. He knew that the previous travelers probably wouldn't have discarded their tools before entering the wooded area. The tactician filed this information away for later analysis.

Steve had also astutely taken notice of the decline in Natasha's condition instantly. When they had moved into the forest, he had slipped his right arm around her slim waist protectively. As they walked over the uneven forest floor, he would intermittently lift her off her feet without realizing it, his exorbitant strength almost carrying her with one hand. Using his shield in his left hand to continually move the forestry out of their path while she used her katana to cut away vines, he hardly ever moved his hand away from where he could snatch her up if she lost her balance in the slightest way.

Natasha didn't want to admit to herself that she found his treatment of her like this unnervingly pleasant. His being the only man on the planet not afraid to touch her without reservation was always a welcome problem for her, but this circumstance was very different from the other times he had physically handled her. In this sweltering heat, given their current state of undress, there was no clothing between their sweaty naked skins. She noticed every touch of his fingers on her waist.

Steve tried hard to focus on the journey ahead of them. His primary concern was taking care of Natasha, but he was honestly having a hard time staying on point. As he held her side, his perfect senses instantly memorized every line, curve and contour of her hips. He knew that the best way to not agitate her was to not show his distraction.

His mind tried not to think about the kiss. He had probably been a little too forward. It was very easy to inadvertently push the spy away, and that was the antithesis of what he intended. He had missed her after last seeing her at the cemetery a year ago, and not a day had passed without his thinking of her.

The spy's mind was filled with similar thoughts. She didn't like to think of how often she had thought of the soldier over the last year. Just the fact that she had to remind herself that the American hero and the Russian spy could not be together in the eyes of the world was a sign of his infiltration of her. Never before in her life had she found herself fighting to keep a man out of her thoughts.

It had been wrong of her to return the kiss he had given her earlier on the shore. She had accepted long ago that the two of them simply could not be together. He was the paragon of virtue and she was the princess of deception. Still, in that moment, after the words he'd said to her, the latent woman inside had been unable to turn away from him.

As they neared a small rushing stream, the spy's keen eyes looked down to search the area for any signs of venomous predators. Without warning, her feet were suddenly no longer touching the ground as her body was lifted into the air. The cold hearted warrior's face immediately broke into a heated scowl which could burn the skin off of an opponent, but then, she looked at Steve and her anger quickly dissipated.

His eyes were carefully searching the stream for any signs of snakes, scorpions, alligators or any other dangerous animals just as she had done. It seemed as if he had barely noticed sweeping her up into his strong arms, as if taking care of her was simply a foregone conclusion for him. Any other man in the world would be laying on the ground right now with her boot on his throat for handling her like this, but from Steve, it was impossibly endearing to her. Unnoticed, she shook her head in feigned exasperation.

Clearing the stream after a few strides, the soldier continued to trek forward. With his arm holding his shield under her thighs and his other around her waist, he seemed perfectly content to simply carry her as he now used his back and the shield to move the foliage aside for them to pass through. There was no way that the spy could let them continue like this. It felt far too comfortable, too good and too ... right.

"Was that your idea of the proverbial 'carrying the girl over the puddle?'" she asked with a raised eyebrow.

"I didn't have a jacket with me to lay down over it," Steve replied as he slowed down to lower her to her feet.

As he stopped, Natasha caught the slight sound of a low grumble from his stomach, and her lithe fingers grazed his perfect six pack abdominal muscles.

“You need to eat, Steve," she told him. "You need your strength for your metabolism. The fruits and vegetables you brought for me earlier aren't going to be enough for you," she said with concern evident in her voice.

"We both need to eat," he responded as he set her down on her feet. "Let's take a detour and head over to the shore."

After walking for a large part of the day at a strong pace, stopping only to allow Natasha to rest, eat and refresh intermittently, the two of them broke through the edge of the forest onto a beautiful open shoreline.

They immediately moved like a team. The soldier headed toward the ocean to gather fish while the spy began to look around at the containers strewn over the area for suitable cooking utensils.

"Hey, Soldier!" she called as she threw one of her pocket knives to him.

Steve caught it without breaking his stride. He opened the knapsack he used to carry their supplies and laid out their clothes as sitting areas before he stepped into the water. Natasha was only just setting down the containers she'd gathered to start a fire when the first large fish smacked on top of his outstretched uniform. Several others followed so quickly that it almost seemed to be raining sea life. In just seconds, the soldier was walking back up the shore toward her. The spy stood and glared at him with her trademark grin.

"I assume you're being modest," she asked.

"What?" he answered with a quiet laugh, already recognizing the quirk in her cheeks she showed whenever she regaled him with her dry wit and dark humor which he always found so charming.

"I've studied your file implicitly, Cap," she told him. "Your metabolism needs to consume a lot more food than this."

"I wasn't sure you could handle cooking more than this," he said sweetly.

"Stand down, Soldier," the saucy spy said with confidence. "I will not only prepare our meal but i will beat your fishing record."

"Be my guest," he replied with a smile, enjoying the challenge.

The spy slid past him smoothly, staring up into his eyes with her tantalizing raised eyebrow. As always, deception was her forte. While the direct soldier was focused on the primary challenge, he hadn't realized the secondary opportunity she intended to take advantage of.

Steven Grant Rogers was more man than any of the male species that she had ever come into contact with on the planet, and yet he had proven to be more immune to her feminine wiles than any other. She didn't like to be ogled by men, as most of their intentions toward her had always been dark and tainted. None of them had lived long enough to touch her, but her deceptions had left her with a deep seated repulsion toward most male attention.

Only this man had changed that for her. After meeting him for the first time, she slowly began to realize that she desired him to notice her. For once, she actually wanted to draw a man's attention. Ironically, the one man she wanted had also been the one man which thought too highly of her to seem to desire her in such a primal way. She eventually caught on to the fact that the perceptive tactician and analyst did notice very minute details about her which all others missed, but she still hadn't affected him in the ways she distracted other men.

Just her luck. Well, it was time to change that.

As she walked toward the water, she easily slipped her slender feet out of her boots and left them behind her. Glancing over her shoulder, the sexy agent slowly began to untie the piece of his uniform she had been using as a wrap around her waist. Adding a little extra twist in her hips, she shimmied out of it and didn't bother to flatten out her underwear which had slid into a thong. Stealing a more subtle glance back at him again, she could feel his eyes boring into her skin. He was watching her intently.

Steve didn't realize that he had stopped breathing until he inadvertently swallowed. He couldn't stop staring at Natasha. The stunning picture of the female physique she presented was captivating beyond words. He had always been an ass man, and the gently rounded contours of her backside were more perfect than his mind had ever imagined. His military regulation boxes suddenly felt three sizes too small. The horizon of the glorious ocean was a lovely backdrop to the scenery, but it paled in comparison to her.

Gauging his subtle but obvious reaction, the woman Natalia felt more triumphant elation that the spy Black Widow had ever experienced after her most successful mission. She had finally gotten him.

She was shocked out of her victory at the first touch of the ocean water on her legs. It wasn't overly frigid, but just its slightly cold temperature exacerbated her hypothermic effects. Her body suddenly felt weak and ill with a thin constant tremble plaguing her nerves.

The Black Widow didn't let her frailty show. Drawing her katana from its sheath, she swiftly began to gather fish. She was soon tossing them on top of the pile he had gathered, but at only a little more than half the speed of the super soldier. Less than a minute later, she stopped, put her sword away, and turned to stare at him with her hands on her hips.

"You're a terrible gloater," she told him as she started to walk out of the water.

"Thanks for the fish," the super soldier mused. "If that's what you want to call fishing."

The snarky spy glared up at him, wishing that she didn't find him so damn charming.

"Come here," The Captain ordered as he walked over and picked up her wrap.

Before she could protest, he had stopped in front of her and dropped to one knee. Taking her right calf firmly in his large hand, he lifted her slender leg and positioned her foot against his hip. He quickly began to dry off her leg with the cloth, moving from her foot to her upper thigh.

Natasha tried not to notice the rise in her heart beat, the way her pulse started racing, or the heat which stirred inside her belly. Having this gorgeous adonis of a man, on one knee in front of her, his face inches from her lower body, his powerful muscles undulating as she intently watched, showering her with attention like this, almost felt intoxicating and surreal. The perceptive and astute analyst must have noticed her strain in the water, and he had responded intently. He remained focused on his mission to see to her needs, and his apparent disregard of the sensual effect he was having on her only intensified the experience. With loving care, he lowered her right leg and then raised her left, drying the water from it with even more attentiveness. Although her balance was perfect, the spy couldn't resist the subtle opportunity to place her fingers on the rock solid muscles of his tense shoulderblades, and the sensation of his hot sweaty power under her hands almost made her come undone.

If she had thought Steve was the vindictive type, Natasha would have wondered if he was striking back at her for the improvised striptease she had just bestowed upon him.

Then, he lowered her foot and stood up over her to take her waist in one arm, and all thoughts slipped away from her. As they both sat down and worked together to prepare their meal, the two of them found comfort in their close proximity.

Although they could easily relax in a calm silence together, the friendly banter which the couple had developed over the last few years had always kept them steadily growing closer. Even though she also used it to keep them apart by trying to set him up on dates, it hadn't prevented them from getting to know each other better. Right now, she needed to use business to distance herself from him.

"How do you think we ended up in that ice?" she asked him as they began to eat.

"I've been considering that," the soldier told her. "What's the last thing you remember?"

"I was in London following some ex-KGB officials which may have been secretly funding 2R, the organization that created The Black Widow operatives. Where were you?"

"Kiev, Russia. I wanted to see some of the former KGB labs where The Winter Soldier had been held. I investigated some of the places where the mind control experiments took place and destroyed what was left of them."

"I was going to contact you soon, Steve," Natasha admitted as she stared over at him, wondering why this felt like some kind of confession. "I may have been on the trail of some hidden connections between Hydra and 2R."

"I shouldn't have let you go that day at the cemetery," he told her as he gazed back at her. "I knew i was going to need your help. We should have stayed together."

After this, they ate in silence for some time before gathering their supplies and moving out to resume their course. The brilliant tactician easily deduced a path to direct them back toward their objective. Soon, they were once again carefully making their way through the dense forest.

The day began to pass quickly as they traveled. After a while, they took notice of a clearing just a few yards ahead. With a few skillful swings, the foliage fell away as the two of them stepped out of the forest to find another beautiful lake in front of them.

At that moment, a thunderous strike of lightning so powerful that it lit up the sky boomed around them. It's power reverberated in the very atmosphere. It seemed unnatural.

The brilliant soldier looked up at the sky warily, staring intently to discern any signs of danger. The spy did the same, her keen mind searching for any clues which may present themselves. Another massive thunderstrike resounded, this time closer, sounding more like an explosion than an act of nature.

There was something very wrong here.

"Has our being here upset God or something?" she said as she looked at him with a grin.

"This isn't Him," Steve answered coldly, his eyes continuing to intently stare up at the sky.

Dark clouds quickly began to gather above them, and pouring rain immediately began to fall from under them. Several spiking sparks of lightning started to strike down on the ground not too far from them, tearing up dirt in their wake.

With a slow, intentful unison, the soldier and the spy moved together. Steve raised his shield, forming a protective barrier against the heavens. Natasha walked to him carefully and intently, positioning herself underneath his arm. She placed her hands on his broad chest while his right arm protectively wrapped around her back and pulled her tight against him. They pressed together closely. The two of them kept their gazes fixed on the sky in their intimate unison, but neither failed to notice the warm heat and subtle caress of their skin against one another. Being close like this comforted both of them.

Suddenly, a wide spark of lightning struck the lake right in front of them and held for several seconds, its energy heating the air around them. Then, the waters burst forth in a massive shower, covering everything in the clearing.

The soldier only angled his shield slightly, still mindful of any bursts of electricity which would do far more harm to them than a wave of water. Steve needlessly held Natasha tighter as the glistening shower washed over them, instantly drenching their clothes and supplies.

After the wave had passed, they looked back at the lake to find it completely frozen solid. Side by side, they walked over to its edge and kneeled down to examine it.

"Is this how we got here?" the spy surmised.

"Maybe this is some kind of portal or conduit, perhaps a bridge between realms or something," said the tactician.

Their attention was drawn back to the sky by another crack of thunder, this one a much greater distance away from them. Just as suddenly as the clouds had appeared, they began to dissipate, revealing a quickly setting sun.

Sunset was upon them. The beautiful sky was darkening quickly. Along with the changing skyline came a chill which was strikingly strong and intense. Natasha inadvertently crossed her hands to rub her upper arms. In her post hypothermic state, the least amount of frigid temperature caused an immediate adverse reaction in her body. The cold almost felt as if it were burning her insides.

“The night chill is coming back,” Steve said warily, his voice filled with concern for her.

“We should find cover,” the spy replied, not showing just how rapidly her condition was declining.

"I know where we need to go," he said firmly. "Come on."

Taking a strong grip on her hand, Steve set off at a brisk pace with the spy in tow. He headed in a direction adjacent to their initial course toward the installation a few miles away. She stayed close, allowing him the comfort of gauging her condition in case he needed to wrap his arm around her again.

After several yards, the two of them broke through the edge of the forest wall to find a large rock face towering over them. There were small caves lining its structure, and many birds and colorful flying animals were already heading into its upper levels.

In perfect unison, the soldier and the spy moved together. Steve held his shield hooked on his left forearm as Natasha wrapped her slender arms over his neck and crossed her toned legs around his waist. The super soldier paused to run his hands along her legs to ensure that they were tight and secure around him, and the spy felt a burning heat where his strong hands slid over her muscles despite the cold air surrounding them. Steve had to give his mind a quick mental shake after touching her, not expecting the feel of her soft skin and firm thighs to be so distracting.

With her secured to his back, the athletic specimen jumped up two levels in a single bound and caught the edge of the third level above. He then skillfully free climbed up the equivalent of three stories before sliding up over the edge of a particularly thin cave.

"We should be good here," he said as he stood to his feet and let Natasha slide down from his back. "This cave is tight. It will act as a small buffer against the cold."

"There is a supply of wood already here," the spy observed as she stepped around him.

Steve walked forward and caught sight of a pile of wood and debris packed together. There were several pieces of driftwood, straw and small flammables laying around toward the rear of the cave. Natasha rubbed her arms again and shivered as he quickly walked over and got a strong bonfire lit in seconds.

"We should put on as much of our clothing as we can manage," he said quickly.

"I'd ... I'd rather take my chances with your metabolism," Natasha said quietly, feeling her body starting to shiver uncontrollably. "It all got wet again."

Steve quickly nodded his agreement. He had again surmised the same conclusion, but he hadn't wanted to suggest it. His keen senses took instant note of the paleness permeating her creamy skin, and he became more worried than he wanted her to know. With a skilled quickness, he laid out the clothes close to the fire to warm them and made a makeshift bed of them.

Sitting his shield alongside them as additional protection from the cold breezes, the diligent soldier sat down with his knees raised and extended his arms to help her down. The sexy spy slipped around the flickering fire slowly, carefully untying her weapons from her waist. In the dim lighting, it almost appeared as if she were undressing as she stepped closer to him, and he failed to notice that she had so captivated his attention that he was staring at her openly. His gorgeous blue eyes traveling over her body stirred a gentle heat in her center, and she sexily reached a hand up to tuck a lock of hair behind her ear as he watched.

Placing her hands in his, Natasha kneeled down between Steve's legs and positioned herself securely between them. Instead of spooning with him this time, she turned her body sideways, resting her shoulder against his broad chest. She tucked her knees up to her breasts, and he closed his large legs tight against her back and her shins as he completely enveloped her small frame in his muscular arms.

Clad only in her makeshift bra top and bikini bottom, along with his boxer trousers, their skin on skin caress was almost intoxicating. Natasha swung her arm around his waist and rested her fingers on the small of his back, but she still held somewhat upright, unsure of being so intimately connected to him like this.

The soldier wouldn't allow her reservation. Sensing her holding back, Steve slid one hand down to her bare hip and pulled her tightly against his torso while his other hand grabbed her shoulder and gently crushed her onto his chest. Natasha's other hand came up to press onto the center of his perfect pecs as her forehead snuggled into his neck. The tender warrior lowered his cheek to rest against her temple.

Trembling, the spy let her eyes slip closed ... and exhaled.

The diligent soldier began to rub all over her lithe body wherever his large hands could reach, massaging her skin and muscles to increase her circulation. Natasha was always surprised by how this man could somehow manage to find the absolute perfect balance between strength and tenderness whenever he touched her. It made her secretly crave it all the more.

There was silence around them for long moments as they tried to warm, listening to the crackling fire, the flowing wind, and the rolling of the ocean waves off in the distance.

"This is the most beautiful place I've ever seen," Steve whispered, intentionally using the soft deep bass of his voice to soothe her soul. "It's peaceful here."

"No war. No conflict," Natasha said quietly in response, trying to stave off the delirium which dulled her senses. "No fighting."

"I said there was a chance you might be in the wrong business," he whispered in her ear.

At his piercing words, her gaze was drawn up to his eyes. Before she realized what she was doing, she had leaned forward to press her full luscious lips against his own. He responded in kind, his hand moving across her bare thigh to draw her deeper into him. A breathless moan rose from within her when she turned her head and opened her mouth to deepen the kiss, sliding her wet tongue against his. Kissing in passionate synchronicity, her hand rose to fondle his cheek before gliding up to tangle in his golden hair. His hand on her shoulder slid over into her fiery auburn strands on the back of her neck and pulled her up to him.

Intense passion threatened to overwhelm them.

Then, there was a loud crack of thunder a short distance away, and the couple forced themselves apart. Both of them turned to stare at the opening of the cave, vigilant for any signs of peril. The following silence hung heavy around them.

After several long moments, The Captain kissed The Black Widow on her forehead. He stared at her pale skin and lightly trembling frame. Her body needed to heal.

"Rest," he said tenderly. "I'll keep watch."

"Are you sure you're okay," asked the spy, concerned for his condition as well as her own.

"I got this," he told her.

Remembering her similar words to him during the battle of New York, she relented, allowing her forehead to lay comfortably against the side of his neck. Steve began to rub his large hands all along the length of her arm and thigh, adding as much warmth to her pale skin as he could. After a long while, his sharp ears caught the sound of the deepening of her breathing, and he allowed himself to relax a little more.

She was alright for now, and that was all that mattered to him. The soldier tried not to allow himself to become distracted by her subtle attractiveness, but he was soon staring down at her lovely face, lost in her beauty. His hand on her shoulder rose to slowly and gently stroke her silken hair with the caring of a lover, and he held her closer. He couldn't turn his eyes away from her, and he continued watching her throughout the night.

 

* * *

Several hours later, as the morning dawn began to break over the horizon, the customary strong heat of the day began to build quickly. The landscape was still dim, but the first rays of sunlight were quickly spreading. The animals and life on the island sprang to activity with various sounds, their joyful noises resounding across the land.

The weary spy stirred awake quickly, drawn out of her sleep by her concern for her partner. She looked up to find him resting lightly.

Even in repose, the warrior was prepared for combat. The spy knew that he had learned this practice of careful rest while in the trenches during the war, and her heart wished she could relieve him of his stress and pain from their many battles.

Blinking her eyes into coherence, Natasha took notice of the slight loss of color in his skin from the cold. Even though her rational mind told her that the super soldier was just fine, her heart desired to care for him. Telling herself the lie that she was only tending to the needs of her partner, the spy leaned up to lay her forehead on his right cheek while her right hand raised to cover the left side of his face. She warmed his face against her own, using more than the physical as she allowed the silent feelings of her heart to reach out to him.

After she heard the quiet grumble of a slight snore, she allowed her eyes to gaze over him. Her hidden emotions stirred her analytical mind. Her thumb slid down to slide across his still lips, memorizing their feel as she remembered the intense pleasure they had bestowed upon her. She desired to run her fingers over every inch of his face, to catalogue his touch and feel, but she held back. Instead, she watched over him as he had protected her, trying not to let more of what was left of her heart slip away.

The new day held more waiting adventure for them.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Notes: Thanks to everyone for your support and encouragement! All of you are truly greatly appreciated! Please share your reviews and comments!


	3. Chapter 3

The new dawn swept over the island with a gentle flowing spirit. The sun rose and instantly warmed all the land. Life on the island leaped back into activity with its presence as if experiencing a new birth each day.

With a measured deep breath, Steve slowly began to awaken. His eyes remained closed, and his mind drew inward. He felt a peace unlike any he had ever felt before in his life. Before he had enlisted in the military, he had harbored an intense desire to serve his country. When he had led The Avengers, he knew that the world once again needed his leadership. After taking down Hydra, he had accomplished his mission. However, his leadership had always made him more of a symbol than a person, and the man Steve Rogers had still not been at ease.

Yet here, now, outside of the world, he had found tranquility. However, he had spent many many nights alone, and he had not found the calm center he now felt. No, the reason for the true peace of his soul, lay enfolded in his arms.

Steve opened his eyes and stared down at the most beautiful sight he had ever seen in his life… the sleeping face of Natalia Alianovna Romanova.

His hand had still been gently caressing her soft auburn hair unconsciously, and as he opened his eyes, his fingers reached over to tuck a silken lock behind her ear. In this quiet moment, he allowed his heart to open so that he could understand it. He adored this woman. With all her faults, flaws, pain and idiosyncrasies, she had somehow slipped his heart away from him.

Steve hadn't expected this. When he had initially met Natasha, he had speculated that maybe his attraction to her was his inner need to defend and protect, but over time he had come to accept that there was more between them. He always took care of her in their battles, and he eventually began to realize that it wasn't just because she was a partner and teammate. His first step toward understanding his true feelings for her had been his realization that she was special to him. Still, with her defensive mechanism of trying to set him up with other women, he had almost resigned himself to the two of them never moving forward in their relationship.

Here, on this island, they had been stripped both physically and psychologically. There was no more world to hold them back now, and it had become much harder to believe they couldn't be together. From the first moment that he had thought she had been dead beside him in that glacier, his feelings for her had been laid bare. Steve wasn't sure if there was any going back for him now.

Natasha stirred as his fingers slid over her ear, and it drew him out of his reverie. Immediately, his concern for her condition took over. She would be awake soon, and he had to provide for her.

Steve gently laid a hand on her forehead to find that she had a light fever, but he hoped that it would break with the new day. Being very careful, he laid her down and slipped her out of his grasp, tucking their uniform scraps back over her securely.

Then, Steve headed for the cave opening. He jumped clear of it, and landed on the ground in a smooth roll. He took off running at full speed, pushing his body for his morning exercise. It always felt exquisite to burn this energy out of his system, and it was even more exhilarating being out here on this deserted island with the freedom to explore.

A few minutes later, Natasha slowly opened her eyes and sat up on one arm.

"Steve?" she called groggily.

Immediately, the detached spy regretted the sound of her own voice. Her tone had sounded almost like the calling out of a lover after a night of lovemaking. She ran a hand through her hair as she forced herself to admit that she and Steve had indeed been getting intimate. Not physically, but in a much more dangerous way. They had been experiencing mental, emotional and spiritual intimacy, and the bond between them had grown exponentially stronger in just a few short hours alone together. Before she could ponder their newfound closeness further, the answer of his voice drew her attention.

"At your service," the super soldier said with a grunt as he crawled one handedly back up into the cave with a satchel of supplies on his back. "I may not be as efficient as Jarvis, but I get the job done. Breakfast is served, ma'am."

"You would have made a great Chippendale, Steve," the saucy agent said as she lazily stood to her feet, smiling at the memory of his addressing her that way when they first met.

"A Chippendale?" Steve said with a deadpan tone.

"Yeah," Natasha looked up at him with a smile. "They were a group of hot guys that served food shirtless and…"

"Did you just say 'hot?'" he asked with a slight grin of his own.

"Yeah," she answered, picking up his uniform shirt and tying it around her waist over her panties. "You were on ice for so long that I figured you could use a warm compliment."

"Yeah, well, you don't look so terrible in the morning, either," he bantered as he kneeled down to unpack their food.

"Oh, so I do look terrible all the other time, then?" she asked as she sauntered over toward him.

"What? No! I meant… ," he said quickly as he looked up to find himself eye level with her sexy toned core and shapely hips before glancing up at her eyes. "You're… You're beautiful all the time, Natasha," he said without thinking.

"Well, which is it?" Natasha smiled victoriously as she sat down by the edge of the cave to soak in the warm breeze, knowing that she had him trapped in their verbal sparring.

Steve lowered his head with a goofy defeated and exasperated grin. He made a mental note to not banter with the spy in the mornings. She always trumped him with her dry humor, but it seemed that she was particularly witty in the early hours of the day, much to his dismay.

"Are you hungry?" he asked, blatantly trying to change the subject.

"I'm starving," the spy answered, letting him off the hook.

Unbeknownst to Steve, Natasha let him end her line of questioning more for her sake than his. Over the course of her life, many men had told her of her attractiveness, and none of them had deterred her from her missions or phased her in the least. However, hearing Steve say this to her caused a warm reaction in the center of her chest that she didn't want to think about. She had felt this same way when he had given her his reverse compliment about her bikini body when they were alone in that hospital room.

"Bon appetit," the bashful soldier smiled.

The two of them enjoyed their comfortable silence as they feasted on delicious fruits, berries and vegetables, then washed down their meal with water which tasted more fresh and clear than any of the best glacier water. When they finished, the soldier gathered their things and secured the spy to his back once again before climbing down the rock face with ease. Side by side, they resumed their course toward the central island cluster.

Just as Steve was about to call for a rest break for Natasha after a few miles of brisk hiking, they caught sight of a small waterfall up ahead of them. The edge of the falls overlooked the western part of the island. There didn't seem to be any other signs of civilization around them as far as the eye could see.

"This looks like a good spot for a dive," said Natasha as she stepped over to the edge of the falls.

"Maybe if you were feeling better," Steve said, dismissively turning around to walk back the way they had come. "It may have cut some time off our trip, but not enough to warrant the risk."

"Risk? What risk?" Natasha grinned incredulously, untying his shirt from around her waist without him noticing.

"Well, the woman suffering from the effects of hypothermic shock probably shouldn't be jumping into a stream of water right now, even if it is warm."

"Probably not," the spy said.

Something in her voice tipped him. Steve stopped walking. He turned around… just in time to see Natasha going over the edge of the waterfall.

"Nat!" Steve yelled as he ran over to the edge.

The spy was quite a sight to behold. She executed a practiced swan dive which was near perfection in motion. The grace and splendor of her fluid body sailing through the air seemed flawless.

Steve watched her slice into the water with a delicate skill, hardly causing any splash around her at all. Even though he knew that she was probably just fine, he still felt a little apprehensive as he waited for her to surface. After several long moments with no sign of her, he leapt off the side and into the water.

Submerged, Natasha stretched her body, testing her control and maneuverability. From her intense combat training and extensive gymnastic expertise, she knew her own body implicitly, and this exertion allowed her to get an accurate gauge of her physical condition. She held her breath and watched the surface of the water above her, waiting for the inevitable splash that she knew was imminent. She would test her skills again as she eluded him.

The soldier hit the water with more of a crash than a splash. He was skilled, but his worry for her caused his dive to completely lack her poise and precision. As Steve looked around for her under the surface of the water, he caught glimpses of motion just outside of his peripheral vision. In a second, the tactician figured out what she had been doing. Of course, she had been testing herself. Unnerving him in the process was probably simply an added bonus for her. With a grin on his face, the soldier slowly floated up over the surface of the water. Moments later, he heard the sleek spy rise up behind him.

"You could have told me you wanted to test yourself," Steve told her as the two of them swam around to face each other. "You're in better shape than I thought, but you're still far from combat ready."

"You may be right," Natasha conceded. "But my test isn't over yet. I'll race you to that boulder down stream there," she said as she pointed to a large rock on the edge of the stream several yards away. "After I beat you, I'll know that I'm half my best."

"Do you want to say go?" Steve asked with a cocky smile.

At his words, Natasha took off. She extended and stretched her body, pushing it to her limits. She swam hard, moving through the water quickly, pleased with her momentum. After several long strokes and a good distance, she looked behind her to catch Steve's location.

He hadn't moved. He was still in the same place. As he caught sight of her looking at him, he gazed down at his wrist as if staring at an imaginary watch to show that he was bored.

Natasha turned around and pushed harder. Steve made her feel strong, light and even somewhat young like a child when she was with him. This was a feeling she had never felt before in her life, even when she had been little. Since love was for children, some distant part of her imagined that maybe this lift of joy in her heart may be what loving him might feel like.

The spy used her physical exertion to push those dangerous thoughts away. She was already half the distance to the objective. Her body strained and pulled against her, but she pushed even harder, her competitive nature compelling her to emerge victorious. She would prove the super soldier wrong.

After several more strokes, she looked behind her to find him. He wasn't there. When she looked back up ahead of her, she caught sight of him already in front of her only three yards away from the boulder.

He was impossibly fast. Knowing that she had lost, the spy gave one last straining push for power. It was one too many. Suddenly, she felt her limbs give out on her, instantly becoming almost dead weight for her to try to lift. Her eyes widened in startled surprise. The breakdown happened so quickly that she was caught off guard. She struggled, but her arms and legs became more unresponsive with each movement she attempted. Her lungs seemed to give out as all of her breath left her. In seconds, she was underwater and sinking fast. Just as her eyes focused on the darkness below her, she suddenly felt her entire body drawing backward away from it and up toward the surface.

Her body spun and she rose above the water on her back, with two large hands firmly holding her up, one in the center of her back and the other cradled underneath her thighs. She turned to the side and coughed some water out of her lungs before she looked up into Steve's concerned eyes.

"I got you," he said with a worried brow as he stared intensely into her eyes. "Just breathe. Just breathe," he soothed.

"You move…," the spy tried to force out as she struggled to regain her breath. "You move… pretty fast… for a fossil."

"Thanks for the race," he smiled tenderly. "If that's what you want to call racing."

"I may have… slightly… overestimated my condition," Natasha whispered.

"You ever practice the backstroke?" he asked.

"Of course, Steve," she answered, already being able to tell that there was something behind this question. "I'm sure everyone did. It's…"

"When I was little, and struggling with the asthma, I couldn't swim," he interrupted her intently. "I learned to relax my body first, and then try to swim. After I did the backstroke for a while, I could then turn over and get through the water a little. The peace gave me strength. Let's try that now."

Natasha gazed up into Steve's eyes above her. She knew exactly what he was actually asking her to do. And, truth be told, The Black Widow would rather face a cadre of Ultron robots than grant his request.

"Steve, I don't think…"

"It'll be fun," he whispered meaningfully.

Natasha stared up at him for a tense moment longer. She had never before willingly put her well being in the hands of another person. In combat, there had been times when she'd had to rely on her partners, but this was the first time that anyone had asked for her trust without dangerous circumstances around them. The woman Natalia dared The Black Widow Natasha to try. She wanted to. Her heart swelled… then she closed her eyes.

Natasha's senses heightened. She could feel Steve's protective hands on her, guiding her, soothing her. Then, her mind expanded, and she felt her surroundings. There was the water under her body, the air cooling her lungs and the warm sun blissfully beaming down on her. There was serenity around her, and she could partake of it, if only she could find the strength within herself to let go.

Steve was with her. If she couldn't find trust within herself, perhaps it lay within him. Natasha heard his breathing above her, strong, slow and steady. Maybe, just his presence was enough.

She let go. Her arms slowly flowed out to her sides. Her body … her soul… felt light and weightless, momentarily devoid of the pain and guilt which she always carried, which had kept her lost in a spiritual void of darkness always seeking redemption. Willingly placing her well being in the hands of another gave her the most liberating feeling she had ever experienced, and it allowed her to feel a freedom she had never felt before.

Just as she was trying to give herself completely to Steve, she felt the tension of the river change. The current became stronger, faster and more out of control. The angle shifted, and there was a slight howl in the wind around her.

Natasha didn't open her eyes.

Above her, Steve smiled deep inside his heart. Despite the change in the waters around them, Steve guided them effortlessly. His eyes were drawn from the river in front of them back down to the woman in his arms, and he embraced his own joy for her. For him, the struggle in life had always been to pick up his banner and lead, but her struggle was to lay down her mantle and live. In this small moment, she had taken a tremendous step forward, and he felt honored to be the man there for the woman of his heart.

After several long minutes, during which she lost track of time, Natasha felt the stream again becoming calm and smooth, and she opened her eyes. She was surprised to find that Steve had let go of her and was wading through the water a few yards away from her. With a peaceful flow, her body continued floating on top of the buoyancy of the water, a picture of serene tranquility in the midst of an unbelievable paradise.

Natasha looked ahead and found that they were near a soft sandy shore. Before she could move, she felt her protector's feather light touch lift her up out of the warm water. After only a few steps, he lowered her down flat on her back on top of the sand, and then he lay down beside her.

Both of them basked in the blissful feel of the sun beaming down on them, enjoying the balance of cold and hot. After a short lingering glance into one another eyes,' they laid back on the sand and rested.

Seemingly of their own accord, their hands joined and their fingers intertwined between them.

* * *

The sensation of flying was the first thing her waking mind held on to. There was motion around her, and she was floating. Natasha's conscious mind realized that Steve was carrying her again. She must have dozed off on the shore.

They were moving through the forest. He was heading straight at a brisk pace, and she was surprised by how silently he was able to maneuver his muscular frame. He had been making his way carefully through the foliage, attempting not to awaken her.

"Where are we?" the spy asked quietly.

"Coming up on an overlook," he told her as he surveyed their surroundings. "I think I caught sight of a metallic structure to our north this morning."

"Steve?" the spy smiled slyly.

"Yeah?" he breathed without really paying attention to her.

"I don't see any puddles under us."

"Hmmm? Oh!" said Steve, realizing what she wanted.

He quickly slid her down to the ground, and they shared a tender smile. Side by side, they walked to the edge of a large butte towering over a small section of the island. The higher elevation provided a beautiful scenic view of the northern section of the region along with the horizon beyond. It was a breathtaking sight, even for seasoned veterans of world travel, but the structure on the edge of the island a few miles ahead of them was even more startling.

There was a small metallic cluster off the coast at the crest of a short hill just a few miles ahead of them. It appeared to be a small outpost installation. It consisted of a trinity of buildings with the largest in the center and two smaller ones positioned on either side of it. The main tower was equipped with a circular communication disk on top of it.

"Let's find out what's over there," The Captain said in his command voice.

After more travel through the foliage which passed quickly, the partners drew near to their objective. With his shield moving branches aside and her katana cutting vines, the two of them moved through the forests easily and swiftly. It seemed as if they were a great team in all things, moving with each other in perfect unison. As they finally broke through the forestry onto the shore clearing location, the two of them paused to survey their surroundings.

The stealthy agent reached over to where Steve had slung her holster over his shoulder and withdrew her pistol. Then, she leaned up to slip her katana out of its sheath across his back. The soldier held his shield at the ready as they headed toward the main building.

The Captain slipped into the side door first with The Black Widow just behind him. The primary auditorium looked like a miniature layout of a NASA launch room, with three rectangular desks facing a window wall which was probably used as a high tech viewscreen.

They made a quick scout of the entire outpost, finding only living quarters and study areas. There were no signs of life anywhere.

Returning to the central auditorium, they went to work. The spy began checking wire cable connections while the soldier located the central fuse box. He tried every breaker inside of it and there was no response at all. He called out to his partner as he walked over and began to sift through drawers and dismantled hardware.

"No power at all," he told her. "I figured that would be the case."

"No major damage anywhere," she answered him. "The systems are antiquated, but nothing looks broken. We need power to get the systems going. We might have a slight problem, though. The last time we were in a situation like this, people started shooting missiles at us."

"I remember," Steve said with a grin as he pulled stacks of paperback books out of some of the drawers and flipped through them. "Alright, I'll start by rebuilding the electrical system. I just memorized the entire layout of the installation here, but the work may take some time."

"When did Captain America become an expert engineer?" the snarky spy asked sarcastically.

"Necessity is the father of invention."

"I think that's 'mother,'" she corrected with a smile. "The phrase…"

"I understood the reference," he said, interrupting her fun with a grin of his own.

"Okay," she smiled. "While you're working on that, I'll take care of our nourishment and see if I can find anything in the interior to get this place going."

"Are you going to be okay in here?" the natural team leader asked her.

"I got this," she answered reassuringly.

With a nod, Steve made his way outside and began his extensive work. Natasha carefully and thoroughly began to check the power sources and supplies in all three buildings of the installation. Both of their work tasks lasted hours, and the entire day passed in a blur of activity.

* * *

Late in the afternoon, as the soldier was busy on the roof checking all power connections for possible shortages, covered in sweat with his hair and boxer underwear plastered to his body, he caught sight of the spy making her way toward the water. He looked up from his work at the pleasant distraction, his keen vision discerning every curve of her physique as she walked. To him, the curves of her body were feminine perfection.

When she reached the water, Natasha's head whipped around to stare up at him, and he didn't miss the kinky raise of her eyebrow. She had known he'd been watching her. To try to pass the moment smoothly, the bashful gentleman raised a hand in a polite wave.

The sexy spy returned his acknowledgement demurely, then she turned around and dropped his shirt she had kept tied along her hips.

Still watching as she leaned over to throw some water across her skin to wash herself, he was mesmerized as she seemed to glisten and glow in the light of the bright sun. He turned away, staring back down at the wires and framework in his hands. After just a few moments, his eyes were drawn back to the shore, and he could no longer look away.

Natasha's auburn hair blew softly in the constant gentle breeze flowing over her. He watched the careful undulation of her back as she moved, catching just glimpses of her womanly bounce from her sides. Her wide feminine hips swayed sensuously, and his eyes followed the sexy curve of her thighs down to her smooth rounded calves. He couldn't take his eyes off of her.

Using her katana, the spy skillfully captured a baleful of fish, tossing them onto the garment she had dropped. She gauged her own physical condition, and although she moved better than the first time she had gathered fish, she was still very far from being well. After she had a large pile ready to be prepared, she ran some water through her hair before making her way back onto the shore.

The spy looked up to watch Steve turning his back to her just as she looked up at him, his head down and focused on his task. She didn't usually indulge herself, as she had been taught to not allow herself any pleasantries and such in her training. As she had been trying to learn to live life more normally since her time with the Avengers, she was slowly starting to find her identity as a person. Experiencing this new vulnerability in her life, Natasha admitted that being alone on an island with this particular man was the worst thing which could have happened to her… or the best.

She knew that they couldn't be together, and she had to fix this fact in her mind. She had accepted this back in the world, but being here with him alone on this island, outside of all rules and boundaries, caused her to somewhat lose her focus. Here, in this beautiful setting, there didn't seem to be any reason for them to be apart. Even though she felt that she didn't deserve happiness like this because of her sins, the woman inside her was reaching out for this man, and this once in her life she was finding it difficult to deny herself.

The spy had twice succumbed to the temptation to kiss him. Steve had initiated the first kiss, but she had kissed him the second time. If she were honest with herself, she couldn't deny that she wanted more from him. She had for a very long time. Still, she reminded herself that all of this could end with a sudden rescue and they would be back in the world… back to themselves… back to the distance between them. Then, she would return to her lonely personal life once again. The spy decided that it would be best if she tried not to let them get too close to each other.

Against her better judgement, the spy allowed her eyes to flow over the rippling muscles in his back. She gazed at his thick powerful arms as they moved with fluid efficiency, and stared at his lower back and thighs in motion. Turning away to stare down at the sand under her shaky feet, she tried not to stare back at him, but her eyes were again on his amazing physique only a moment later.

If she were always honest, like Steve, instead of always thinking in lies to keep from dying, she would admit to herself that the sexual tension between them was so thick she would have to use her best knife to cut it.

The two of them looked up as she reached the door of the outpost, and were both caught in a blatant gaze at the other. Both of them lingered intensely for a long moment, the sun hanging on their skin and the gentle breeze blowing through their hair, before they both turned away back to their tasks.

* * *

The rest of the light of the day passed quickly, almost seeming to go faster than usual. As the first signs of sunset signalled their arrival, Steve reluctantly positioned his projects into neat organization, then he quickly made his way toward the primary housing.

The soldier was anxious to work, but he knew that Natasha would feel the cold soon. She was a very tough woman, certainly one of the strongest he had ever met, and she would not show the true detriment her body would be experiencing from the temperature. He needed to be near her to gauge her condition, and he also wanted to simply be there for her.

He entered the main installation and followed a delicious smell of cooking fish to one of the rooms near the rear of the building. He stepped around the open doorway and took in the sight before him.

Standing facing away from him, the spy had converted a long countertop into a makeshift kitchen. It had a sink, and she had skillfully crafted little fire areas along its surface where she had a number of courses cooking. Comically, it almost seemed to him as if she had become some kind of master chef from scratch.

Steve took in the visage of the woman in front of him. His mind's eye gave him a flash of the kind of wife he had always pictured coming home to when he had been young. She would be strong, gorgeous and attentive, very much similar to the lovely vision he was now watching. He was only drawn out of his reverie as she turned around toward him.

"You can wash your hands in the sink here," she said. "I got us some running water working. I hope I made enough food for you. I know you need to eat, and I don't mind taking care of my…"

'Man' her heart completed for her.

"… partner," the spy said, hoping that he hadn't noticed her hesitation.

"I'm a little surprised you know how to do all this," Steve said, doing her the favor of not pressing her about what could have been a Freudian slip. "I could quote every word in your entire file to you backwards, and I don't seem to recall it mentioning anything about culinary skills."

"It did state that I was married for a while," the spy said, not looking up as she sat a large plate onto the little island desk in the center of the area. "I learned a lot of things during that time," she added with a dark wistful tone.

"Did you like being married?" the inquisitive soldier asked, hoping to hear how she felt about long term commitment. "Did you love Alexei?" he followed a moment later, intentionally using the name of her husband to shake her out of her comfort zone.

"Like I said, I learned a lot," Natasha answered, still not looking up at him as she filled the plate with food. "Love is for children."

"You didn't love him?"

"I tried," the spy admitted slightly reluctantly. She wished that Steve would stop questioning her. Only he could pull things out of her like this. "I really tried. He was a good man. I just… had nothing inside to give. After my training in the Red Room, I was hollow. He… He said I was as cold as the Russian winter."

"That was his excuse," Steve said in his strong whisper.

"Excuse?" she asked, looking up at him in surprise.

"For not being there for you. For not being the man you deserve!" he said strongly.

The spy gazed up into his eyes with a deep stare. During their ordeal a year ago, Steve had challenged her to show him who she really was. Out of all the people in her life, his opinion of her mattered the most to her. She had once asked him if he could trust her. Now, he was the man she trusted most. A part of her wanted to open up and share herself with him, as she hesitantly longed for the caring he offered her.

"After that, I just shut down emotionally," she continued. "I couldn't let anyone else get close to me again. That just wasn't a part of my life anymore. I know there's a stigma around The Black Widow, but the truth is that all my targets were either dead or incapacitated long before they could touch me. And… the only man that was ever close enough to know that part of me… compared me to a frozen wasteland," she whispered sadly, almost to herself. "I guess he was right."

"I don't think that's the truth," the soldier interrupted boldy. "People who don't care don't fight as hard as you do to save others. They don't try because they don't care. You fight because you do."

Natasha asked quickly to change the subject, "What about you?" She had mistakenly opened up too much of herself to him, and she retreated by turning their conversation towards him. "Have you found anyone with shared life experiences yet?"

"I called Sharon," he told her flatly, taking a mouthful.

"Oh yeah?" she asked, not noticing that her eyes darkened subtly at his admission. "What happened?"

"It was a little like your situation," he told her, not missing the darkness which crossed her face and lifted his heart. Despite all her attempted matchmaking, she hadn't really wanted him to date another woman. "Things progressed and went… very well… for a while between us. In the end, things just didn't work out."

"Why not?"

"I was told that I was… distracted."

"Distracted?" the spy asked incredulously. "Meaning?"

"Meaning I was thinking of someone else," Steve answered blandly.

Natasha stopped moving, and stared up at him. Her eyes dropped to his lips, then gazed back into his eyes. The silence between them was deafening.

Then, the quiet of the moment was shattered by the loud striking of booming thunder outside, just near the installation. Both of them quickly made their way to the observatory and peered out at the dark night, but there didn't seem to be anything amiss on the island.

The chill of the atmosphere was much stronger in the forward rooms, and the spy looked down at her hand to find it slightly trembling. Her attentive partner had noticed it before she did, and his brow furrowed with concern.

"We need to get you settled in," he said firmly.

"I found a locker full of candles and I've already positioned them throughout the rooms where we may need them the most," she told him. "It was strange that I was able to find all kinds of helpful items like pots and pans, but this place is completely without essentials like clothing and such."

"Let's get to the smaller rooms," Steve said, unknowingly slipping into his command voice.

As they walked side by side down the short hallways, the spy found herself slightly uncertain and insecure. Combat was easy for her because it was what she knew. However, living with a person outside of a work environment, truly being with someone, was much more difficult.

"Thanks, Steve," she said dismissively as they reached a pair of small dorms across the hallway from each other. "I'll be alright."

Steve wanted to say something else, but he couldn't find the words. Natasha took the initiative, reaching up to place one hand on his left cheek while she kissed his right. She hadn't wanted to accidentally kiss him on his mouth again, and unwittingly set off these fireworks between them which lay dormant just underneath the surface waiting to explode into unbridled passion.

"I'm here if you need me," he managed as she stepped away from him.

Natasha felt the same pull at her heart that she had endured when she had walked away from him that day at the cemetery long ago. She didn't want to walk away from him. Some part of her felt so right, too right, being with him. The spy fought with herself to not give in to the temptation, even though she wanted nothing more than to release her heart's desire. Every step seemed to hurt her heart all the more.

Steve watched her turn away from him, remembering the way she had walked away a year ago. He felt his heart sink the same way that it had on that day. Even after all they had been through with Hydra and all they had been through on this island, it seemed as if they still couldn't find their way to each other. The soldier put his hands on his hips the same way he had done when she'd walked away from him in the hospital long ago.

He watched as the spy stepped into the room, his heart already missing her continued presence, and noticed that she hadn't closed the door behind her.

* * *

The temperature dropped continually over the next few hours. Without the warmth of the sun, the nights on the island were always extremely frigid, but on this night the atmosphere was even much colder than usual. It was almost as if a rogue blizzard had blown in across the land.

Natasha lay covered in as many blankets as she could find, but there was absolutely no respite for her. She could certainly force herself to endure the pain and discomfort as she had been taught to do, but it was much more difficult when there was someone just a few feet away so willing to be there for her. Somehow, it made the loneliness she had always felt exponentially more profound.

Laying down had not helped her to sleep at all, so she had eventually sat up and curled into a bundle, very similar to her position after her first encounter with the massive green rage monster. Tucking her legs into her body had seemingly provided no additional warmth, and she only trembled more now. After a little while longer, her entire body started to feel numb.

The spy remembered telling Steve about the coldness she had felt her entire life. Her situation was ironic in that the cold outside now matched the cold inside.

She hadn't told him that he had been the only warmth she had ever known.

* * *

Some time later, as he lay alone in his bed, the soldier was reminded of one of his favorite quotes -

"The greatest battles we fight, are the ones on the inside."

\- from the novel 'Peaceful Warrior' by Dan Millman.

At the moment, he was waging a war within himself. Steve wanted to go to Natasha. He could feel that she needed him, and he wanted to be there for her. However, he also knew that her life of pain and independence would probably cause her to reject him if he approached her. The last thing he wanted to do was to push her away.

He knew that she needed him in her current condition. The ill effects of the hypothermic shock were wearing off, but her body still healing slowly. He knew that he needed to watch over her, to ease his own mind and heart. Steve decided that he had to go to her.

Overwhelmed with concern, the usually perceptive warrior hadn't caught the whisper of sound moments before. As Steve sat up quickly and prepared to move, he immediately caught sight of Natasha standing at the foot of his bed. She was barely visible in the dim light of the three candles spread out in the bedroom, but she was there.

One look in his eyes told her all she needed to know. The two of them moved in unison. Steve threw the thin covers back as Natasha moved around to his side. She slipped his shirt off her waist and left it on the floor beside the bed. Glad to have her near, he vigorously pulled her down on top of him while simultaneously throwing the covers over her back. Grateful for his enthusiastic acceptance, Natasha didn't have enough time to force her unresponsive hypothermic body to adjust. She landed directly on top of his muscular frame, her hands resting against his firm broad chest, her legs spread on either side of his waist.

Steve didn't seem to mind their position at all. He rubbed up and down her back with both hands, restoring circulation to her lithe body. Natasha immediately felt a soothing warmth spreading outward from his skin to her own, and she was thankful for relief from the nearly paralyzing cold she had been feeling. As she began to relax, she laid her head down on his chest and waited for a long moment… then, she closed her eyes.

He held her close, firmly and quietly, and they breathed together. The serenity of this moment with him broke the remnants of her heart open in ways she had never imagined possible.

After several minutes, when he thought she may have fallen asleep, he allowed himself to gaze down at her lovely face. He again found himself lost in her. He couldn't take his eyes off of her beautiful visage, and he knew with certainty that he would never ever tire of watching this woman sleep.

Of its own volition, his hand raised and stroked her silken hair softly and gently, the adoration in his touch obvious and evident.

With her eyes closed, Natasha felt every single caress of his fingers in her hair. His large hand sliding up and down the skin of her back to help warm her was the perfect balance of firmness and tenderness. It was obvious that he didn't want to wake her.

The spy kept her eyes closed and her breathing steady, just so that he wouldn't stop touching her like this. Sometimes, she was still deceptive without even trying. It was for this very reason, the way that he could make her feel, that she was more apprehensive about this man above all others.

Steve, only Steve, could possibly not only bring to life the cold embers of her long dead heart, but only he could perhaps also help her build a new one.

This single hope almost made a tear slip from her closed eye before she finally drifted off to sleep.

* * *

Early the next morning, Natasha awoke to an empty bed. Her skin was already wet and slightly sticky with sweat from the heat of the day, and her thin garments were clinging to her. She sat up in Steve's bed and looked around for him.

She immediately deduced that he had probably headed out for his morning exercise and reconnaissance run. It was obvious that he still wasn't eating enough for his metabolism, and she wanted to prepare a meal for him before he began his daily work. Her body felt a little stronger after her rest in his warm arms, and she hoped that she had enough time to get breakfast ready.

Natasha walked across the hallway to her room… and her senses quickly alerted into high gear. As she stepped out into the short space, her peripheral vision caught something unusual… a dark shadow… standing at the far end of the hallway… watching her.

The spy reacted with the lightning fast reflexes of a trained assassin. She snatched her pistol off the desk where she had placed it and swung back out into the hall in a fluid motion. With an almost identical expression on her face as she had the first time she had drawn her gun on the hulk, the spy waited tensely as she stared at the silent empty hallway.

There was someone there. She couldn't see it. But there was something there.

Behind her, Steve stepped into the hallway from the front auditorium, and her posture immediately alerted him. Holding his shield at the ready, he was at her side in a second, staring with her down the open passageway.

"What's going on?" he asked intensely.

Natasha never moved her eyes away from the dark hallway in front of them.

"We're not alone."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Author's note: Thanks so much to all of you that read, review and comment! You are all so wonderful! I truly madly deeply appreciate every word you send me! This may become an ongoing series, and if so, it will be filled with mystery, action, adventure and romance. There will be revelations, hauntings, civilizations, surprises and other storylines I hope you shall all enjoy! This story was not planned, and it now has a life of its own and has started writing itself! Please share your thoughts as we continue on this journey together!


	4. Chapter 4

The long dim hallway loomed eerily silent before them. Despite the humid heat of the morning outside, the atmosphere in the corridor had dropped to a strange coldness. There was danger near.

Steve and Natasha advanced forward in a concise cover formation. He had stepped slightly in front of her so that his shield protectively covered her side, and she had moved her gun to her left hand so that she had a clear line of fire from behind him. The two of them were a perfect team.

The soldier stepped into the medium sized rear observation room before the spy, making certain that the way was clear for her. His enhanced vision carefully scoured the circular space for any signs of an adversary. He turned and nodded to Natasha, and the two of them split up to slowly walk along opposite walls.

All of the window walls and the glass ceiling were covered by shutters, and very little of the light of the day filtered in for illumination. There were two small study closets on both sides of the main room which were even darker than the outer area. This was the best place in the entire outpost for an interior assault.

The quiet stillness around them hung thick with tension and heavy with silence.

Suddenly, Steve glanced over at Natasha, and his keen eyes immediately discerned a dark shadow moving along the wall just inches behind her. The spy caught the nearly imperceptible narrowing of his eyes as they shared a glance, and she burst into action. Again, the partners moved in perfect unison. The Captain slung his shield in a powerful swing as The Black Widow dove forward into a smooth roll. The vibranium disc pounded into the wall near where she had been as she slid up out of her roll and drew down on the spot behind her to quickly fire three bullets into the metal.

The shadow was gone. Steve's shield rebounded off the wall and Natasha's bullets hit nothing.

Yet, in the blink of an eye, the shadow reappeared… rising up out of the floor behind Natasha.

The soldier was in motion in a split second. He leapt into the air, fluidly catching his mighty shield, and bounced off the wall above her. He spun his body around and swung his shield in a horizontal swing over her head to slice the shadow in half.

Again, in a flash, the dark entity dematerialized before the metal cut touch it.

In a smooth motion, Steve reached his left arm down and scooped Natasha up effortlessly as if she weighed the same as a dry leaf, draping her body along his hip much the same way as he had when he had carried her out of the path of the bomb explosion on the Lemurian Star. The Black Widow reacted to her Captain swiftly. She leaned upward and curled her left leg around his left thigh and acrobatically extended her right leg to wrap around the right side of his waist. She balanced herself by reaching her right arm across his muscular torso and holding on to his right shoulderblade while she extended her left arm over his left shoulder with her gun aimed. She used his left shoulder as a brace for precision accuracy aim while she stared forward with a stern focused expression.

The Captain kept his left arm wrapped around The Black Widow's waist holding her against him while holding his shield with his right hand as he slowly turned them around in a circle, searching for any signs of their adversary in the room. Natasha couldn't see the entity as well as Steve in the low light, but she knew that her keen eyes would spot any movement near them.

All was still, dark and silent.

"It's stalking us," Steve said in an intense whisper.

"Enjoying the hunt," whispered Natasha intensely.

Suddenly, there was a rush of air from above pushing down on them with a heavy weight. Steve and Natasha both looked up to see a black cloud crashing down toward them. The soldier raised his shield as he pulled the spy under him, and Natasha wrapped both her arms around his neck to protect him as best she could. There was an eerie high pitched scream which reverberated out of the atmosphere around them as the black cloud seemed to pass through their bodies and dematerialize into the floor beneath them. After a few intense seconds, the darkness was gone.

Steve waited, holding Natasha protectively close. Slowly, he lowered his shield and stood tall, and the two of them silently surveyed the room around them. The temperature rose quickly as the unusual coldness seemed to dissipate.

The dark entity was gone.

Steve started to take a few steps toward the door as Natasha unwrapped her legs from around his waist. Her little feet didn't touch the floor, instead lowering to dangle three inches above it.

Natasha looked up at Steve. He was still gazing around them, seemingly oblivious to his arm around her hips and the fact that he was still carrying her. The spy lowered her gun to her side and gently placed one hand on his shoulder to balance herself, thinking the contact would rouse his attention.

The soldier kept walking.

"Steve?"

"Hmmm?"

"Can you…"

"Oh!" said Steve, immediately lowering her to the floor and letting her go.

The spy smiled as she looked up at him. The man was unnervingly cute. The Black Widow wouldn't have allowed any other man in the world to touch her like this, but from him it was endearing to a fault.

"Do you think it's coming back?" she asked.

"I'll check the perimeter," The Captain stated, slipping into his command voice. "I might be able to find some trace of this thing that might help us defend against it. The shadow may have been ethereal but any possible early warning will help. Maybe you can look around inside and see if you find anything in here."

"Got it," the spy followed.

* * *

Hours later, the outpost stood calm. The heat of the day beamed down, but a constant gentle breeze kept a slight coolness overlaying the island. The sound of the waters of the ocean echoed across the shore.

Steve was sweating profusely as he searched. He was looking around for anything strange or unusual as he walked up to a set of electricity poles behind the main building. As he looked down, he noticed that the ground near the third pillar was slightly loose and more disturbed than the other two. It wasn't secured as well as the others. The brilliant tactician's mind began to study the pillar. The soldier wrapped his strong hands around the thin pylon and pulled. The entire pole rose up.

Steve stopped quickly. Intuition told him that this was a major clue concerning the mystery surrounding them. He quickly hurried into the left side building where he'd taken note of a structural supply storage room. He retrieved a shovel and hurriedly dug a large hole around the pylon. He slipped down into the hole and studied the electrical connections at its base… or lack thereof.

The soldier paused for a moment and stared hard at the structure. His head had been pounding with a dull ache since their encounter inside the outpost, and he could tell that he wasn't thinking with his usual sharpness. With his advanced immune system, the super soldier very rarely if ever felt ill. Raising a hand to his eyes, his rubbed them firmly as he steadied himself.

The tactician knew he had just found the source of the installation's sabotage. This wasn't an accident. Someone had deliberately shut down all communication with the island. The question was why.

* * *

Inside the installation, the temperature had risen considerably. While the structure held the cold of the evening at night, it also trapped the humidity of the day as well.

Natasha had just finished gathering food for the two of them and was making her way up from the shore. Her body felt much better as she headed back inside the main building, the adrenaline of the morning seeming to have caused a resurgence of her system. Yet, while her physicality had improved, her mental state had waned. Her mind felt clouded and she would feel a little dazed sometimes with a pounding migraine, often having to pause to try to clear her head. It was very unusual.

Her skin was covered in a light sheen of perspiration, and she thought about taking Steve's shirt from around her waist to give her legs some added air. She reached down, and instead of pulling it off, she found herself running her fingers along its surface. The garment carried his manly scent, and she liked wearing it. After a moment, the spy admonished herself for these dangerous thoughts and decided that she might take a short shower before rechecking the buildings and preparing their next meal.

Just as she stepped inside, she was surprised to hear the sudden humming of electricity coming into existence. As in all things, the greatest soldier in history had accomplished his task. The installation once again had a power supply. The Captain was already walking in just as she was laying hands on the main keyboard.

"Nat, see if you can access the primary system and run a full scan on the island."

"I'm on it," The Black Widow responded instantly, already typing commands into the main keyboard in front of her. "We're in, Steve," Natasha said after only a few seconds, waiting for him to walk over and stand close behind her. "The system appears to be an antiquated model overlaid by some high tech programs. Everything was set up to study the island for some reason, focusing on the lakes and waters as possible transportation portals. Most of the data has been erased."

"As if someone didn't want their discoveries to be found?"

"That's exactly what it looks like. Also, there's something strange going on with the communications array. Everything is functioning properly, but it simply will not get a signal."

"Can you pull up a schematic of it?"

"Done," the spy said ahead of herself as she typed commands into the main computer.

Moments later, the entire western wall of the auditorium activated and smoothly morphed into a large graphics display screen. A complicated diagram of the entire upper level of the main building then covered its surface, quickly running through page after page. The super soldier stared at the schematics for only a few seconds before he started toward the door, giving orders in his command voice.

"I'm going to take the array apart piece by piece and rebuild it. Nat, you check the entire computer layout. Run every diagnostic there is on the system and then scan every part of this island."

"Steve, look," Natasha said slightly breathlessly as her hands stopped typing on the keyboard in front of her. "The position locator… "

Standing beside her, Steve stared up at the large viewscreen. The array had triangulated a map of the entire region… and there was nothing. Beyond the boundaries of the island, there was only water.

"The… The world is gone," she whispered. "There's nothing there."

Both of them stood motionless in repose for a long moment, gazing at the blank screen in front of them.

"I need to repair the array to boost the scanners and increase the range," said Steve. "They're not going out very far. We need to be sure."

"I'll extend them to their current max range and set for continuous running. They'll let us know if anything shows up."

The two of them looked back at the viewscreen, watching the continuous scan. Then, they stared at one another for a long moment before turning back to the scan. There didn't seem to be anything else out there in the world, yet still, they had each other.

* * *

Later that evening, the chill of the night air began to come inland early. The sun was setting on the horizon, drawing gloriously beautiful colors out of the clouds. A brisk wind followed, dropping the temperature quickly.

Completing the first part of the external repairs, the soldier paused in his work at the sunset. Steve walked inside the installation to find Natasha cooking busily in the kitchen. Smiling at the sight of her, he made his way over to stand near the spy.

"The perimeter is as secure as it can be," the soldier told her.

"The full scans are running but they haven't turned up anything yet," she responded.

"Smells delicious," said Steve with an appreciative smile.

"Taste," Natasha ordered, picking up a gently sizzling piece of fish.

The spy placed the small slice into Steve's mouth, and her fingers lingered as he softly sucked on her forefinger along with the food. Staring up into his eyes, she slid her thumb across his lips, smoothing away a slight stream of hot juice which lined them. Then, she pulled her thumb back and licked off the tasty sauce.

Surprised by this unexpected sensuality, the two of them gazed into one another's eyes for a long moment. Then, Natasha turned away quickly, feeling that she was simply too close to him. Steve looked down, allowing her the space she needed to retreat, still pleased that she was allowing him to see a little more of the woman underneath the surface.

"Tastes delicious too," he said with a smile.

"I found something for you," the spy said, glancing up at him with a pleased grin before walking over to the center table and bringing him a book. "It was in one of the main drawers," she told him as she handed it to him. "I found it along with a lot of other personal belongings that seem to have been left behind."

"Someone left a King James 1611 Bible here!" the soldier said with a beaming smile. "I'm so glad you found this. Thank you, Natasha. They must have known I was coming," he grinned.

"The timing is uncanny," said Natasha. "I don't know how long we were in the ice, but the last day I remember before waking up here on the island… "

"… was three days before Christmas," finished Steve. "We should celebrate the holiday. Let's eat."

As they sat down together and started their meal, Steve opened the Book and studied. Natasha watched the quiet peace, joy and serenity which fell over his features. She found herself staring at him openly, her heart and mind intrigued by his blissful posture. After a few moments, he was deep in thought, but to her eyes he seemed somehow… even more beautiful than usual.

"What are you thinking about?" she asked, admonishing the heavy sound of her voice in the gentle silence, yet glad she had indulged her curiosity. "You look so peaceful."

"Actually, I'm thinking about you," he answered, looking over to stare into her eyes. "I'm asking Him for guidance. Above all else here, I want to keep you safe. I'm praying for you."

"Me?" she asked in surprise. "You don't need to do that," she added as a tender sadness fell over her features. "I… I don't deserve it. For a long time, I've been seeking… redemption… for all the things I've done. There's so much red in my ledger… that I just don't think I can ever really wipe it out."

"You can never truly balance the scales. Have you been seeking redemption… or forgiveness?" he asked her quietly, slowly reaching out to tenderly hold her hand. "You've already been forgiven. You just have to accept it. That's what this season is really all about."

"That may be… difficult," Natasha said with a sad smile.

"Relax," he echoed her words to him from their former mission. "It's not that complicated."

Natasha allowed herself to smile, letting his charm lift her spirits a little. Only this man had the ability to warm her heart, her body and her soul. Raising her hand to the side of his face to feel his warm skin, she leaned over and tenderly placed her customary kiss on his cheek. Natasha lingered against him for a long moment, staying close to him, before she stood and prepared to turn in for the night.

"Merry Christmas, Steve," she said with a gentle smile.

"Merry Christmas, Natasha," he softly called after her.

The two of them parted with an unspoken reluctance. Like at the cemetery so long ago, she still had to remind herself not to look back at him. The attraction between them was simply too strong, and it was growing more so with every moment they spent together on this island.

Unbeknownst to either of them, their distance apart would leave them in deadly danger tonight.


	5. Chapter 5

In her mind's eye, the memory was clear…

… She was thirteen years old. The age when whatever was left of Natalia Alianovna Romanova had died.

Her target was Yurgi Puchenko. He was a very high ranking member of the Soviet KGB, known for executing marks with extreme brutality to send messages to enemies of the country. He was also known for having a disgustingly peculiar fetish. He enjoyed molesting and disposing of young children.

However, it wasn't this sadism which had caused the covert kill order for him. No, this behavior had been acceptable to the state as long as he carried out his duties. No, Puchenko had made the mistake of selling secrets to other countries in order to further the human trafficking network he was moonlighting without the knowledge of his superiors. Or so he had assumed that his activities were without their knowledge.

Natasha had walked into the lavishly expensive hotel room slowly, taking in every detail of her surroundings as she had been trained to do. Since she was posing as Puchenko's… order… for the evening, the two burly guards hadn't even bothered to frisk her. They assumed they would be disposing of her dead body in the early hours of the morning like all the other children which he had brought to him like this.

Puchenko was laying on his bed in nothing except a pair of white trousers. Liking what he saw, he motioned her over to him quickly.

"Come here, little girl," his gravelly voice called. "I won't bite … at least not very hard at first."

Natasha didn't break her intent stride toward the bed. She was only wearing a thin black dress over her lithe body, and she kicked off her heels as she crawled onto the bed.

"That's it," he urged, grabbing one of her legs and pulling her over to straddle him.

With a cold blank stare, Natasha kept her focus. She didn't allow her face to show the disgust she felt for him. He was grossly overweight with a fat pot belly, and his skin was clammy and sticky. At that moment, some part of her mind hidden deep inside determined that she would never let a man touch her like this unless she chose to do so.

At this thought, Puchenko reached down to pull up her dress… and it acted as a trigger for her determined mind. Almost before she realized she had done it, her hand had withdrawn the slender letter opener which had been stealthily concealed in the top of her stockings strap and slipped it silently across his throat.

Blood immediately began to pour from the wound in his neck which had opened all the way to the bone. Puchenko stared up in shock at this little girl in his arms, his mind unable to process what had just happened to him. Natasha had only stared back at him with no emotion.

Then, terror gripped him like a vice. He suddenly raised his hands to his neck and opened his mouth to scream for help. The spy moved faster, fastening her hand over his mouth to keep him quiet and holding the bladed weapon in her other hand at the ready. Helpless, Puchenko bled out beneath her.

Natasha's young eyes stared down at the man as the life left him, and it was a sight which no child should have had to endure. It was as if the ending of his life before her eyes had pulled some part of her soul down into death with him. From that moment on, she would spend a lifetime trying to reclaim the emotions which had been stolen from her by her own hand. In that instant, Natalia died. Only Natasha remained. All that was left… was The Black Widow.

She looked down at the blood pooling on the bed around his head. The color seemed to become a part of her mind. It was the beginning of the red in her ledger.

Then, something happened which her mind didn't remember. Puchenko seemed to come back to life, looking up at her and calling her name.

"Natasha?" he called.

Her brow furrowed in confusion. There was something very wrong here. Puchenko had never known her name. The voice he was speaking in wasn't his own. She couldn't figure out what was happening here.

"Natalia Alianovna Romanova. Born November 22nd 1984. Steven Grant Rogers. Born July 4th 1918. Can you hear me?"

The sound of his voice stunned her more than his words. It was Steve's voice. Puchenko wouldn't have said these words to her. This didn't make sense.

"Come back, Nat," Steve whispered. "Come back to me. Come back."

Natasha squeezed her eyes shut tightly. Then, she opened and closed them three times. When she looked up, her vision was blurred almost to the point that she couldn't see. Slowly, her sight began to come into focus.

It wasn't Puchenko lying underneath her. It was… Steve.

She was on top of him, her legs straddling his waist, one hand on his chest for balance and the other hand… holding her knife against his throat.

The side of his neck was bleeding. His hand held her wrist, preventing her blade from slicing in any deeper. His other hand had reached up to the side of her head and his fingers were gently stroking her hair.

"Nat?" he whispered softly. "It's okay. It's Steve. I'm here. It's okay."

She realized… she had just tried to kill him.

The knife slipped from her hand. Her mouth fell open in shock and tears welled in her eyes. The sudden trembling of her body was visible.

"Nat?" he called soothingly. "Nat…"

She was off the bed in a shot. Her sudden speed surprised him. Barefoot, the spy moved with a silent haste and was out of the room in less than a second.

* * *

Moments earlier, Steve had awakened to the gentle padding of the spy's tiny feet as she had walked into his room. His heart had immediately lifted, as he had been very pleased to see her. The only thought in his dreary mind was how much he had missed holding her in his arms as she slept. Surmising that she may have gotten cold despite the climate control which was now functioning, he had quickly thrown back his blanket to receive her.

However, instead of demurely slipping into his embrace, Steve had been surprised as the spy had boldly slipped her legs over his own and straddled his thighs. Sliding his clothing which she used as a sarong into careful position, she had stared down at him with a blank expression.

The soldier's eyes had momentarily widened in surprise before narrowing with desire for her. Steve had accepted that he had feelings for Natasha, but he also understood that they couldn't move forward unless she felt the same and was able to reciprocate. Perhaps, he wondered, she was finally accepting the feelings between them. As she moved, he raised his hands to hold her hips and give her balance.

It was a fatal mistake.

With a speed almost faster than his eyes could follow, the spy's right hand had slipped up from along her waist and drawn her knife from the strap of her panties hidden beneath her sarong. In one second, it was in his neck.

Only his blindingly fast reflexes had saved his life. Catching sight of the blade, his left hand had moved more quickly than her right, and he had stopped her wrist before she had completed her slice across his neck. Holding her arm in a firm powerful grip, The Captain focused on her eyes.

He saw the cold stare of The Widow looking down at him, and he knew that something was very wrong with her. Despite the blood dripping from his neck, Steve's concern wasn't for himself at all. He was only worried about Natasha. It was imperative that he get through to her.

"Nat?" he called quietly. "Natasha? Can you hear me?"

There was no response from her. Whatever delirium she was in, it had a solid grip on her. From her file, he knew about the times her mind had been altered. He thought perhaps old interrogation resistance techniques may break through to her. He started to call out common information, hoping that she might hear him.

"Natalia Alianovna Romanova. Born November 22nd, 1984. Steven Grant Rogers. Born July 4th, 1918. Can you hear me?"

A slight look of confusion began to show through on the otherwise blank features of Natasha's face. Her eyes narrowed. She was coming out of it. The thought crossed his mind that tactile contact may connect with her more, and he raised his other hand to softly stroke the side of her hair.

"Nat?" he whispered softly. "It's okay. It's Steve. I'm here. It's okay."

Realization struck her. Understanding what she had just tried to do, she was horrified. He watched his Natasha return as terror crossed her face. In a second, she was out of the room and gone.

Behind her, Steve sat up in bed quickly. He raised a hand to the cut on his neck and felt the warm blood flow over his fingers. He winced a little at the sharp stinging pain. He also felt a hot ache inside the wound, and he knew that his body was already healing itself. Tearing off a piece of the bedsheet, he made a small bandage and secured it over the cut. Then, he stood and hurried after Natasha.

* * *

Outside the installation, Natasha stumbled to a halt on the shore beside the water. The frigid air immediately coated her skin. She doubled over slightly as she began to cough violently.

She didn't notice the strange tendrils of dark smoke which seeped out of her eyes and dissipated into the wind.

* * *

Just moments later, Steve opened the door of the installation to find her standing out on the shore by the edge of the water. There was a stifling chill in the air, and even though she had recovered from the hypothermic shock, he still knew that it wasn't good for her to be out in this temperature with so little clothing. She stood still and silent, holding her arms crossed over her chest with her hands on her shoulders, already slightly trembling from the cold.

"Nat?" he called out as he walked up behind her, knowing that her keen senses had already made her aware of his presence.

"Stay back, Steve," her cold voice said in an intense whisper. "Just… stay away from me."

"What's going on?" he asked, stopping a few feet behind her. "Natasha, talk to me," he said firmly after she didn't respond for a few moments.

"I … I know that my past makes me susceptible to wmind control," she said in a broken whisper. "It's happened before. I know that. But this… this was nothing I was ever trained for."

"What happened in there?" he goaded patiently.

"It … It was a memory … that felt like a dream… but it was too real. It was like being back in that moment. I had… no way of distinguishing … what was reality," she said, almost as if talking to herself as she desperately tried to make sense of what had happened.

"You're okay now," Steve said comfortingly. "You're okay."

"No. I don't want to ever be controlled again, Steve," she said brokenly, still not turning to face him. "Not ever again. I once asked you if you would trust me to save your life. I can't … even trust myself anymore. There's … other things wrong with me, too, that I can't even put into words."

"I trust you," Steve whispered in her ear as he stepped up behind her and wrapped his arms around her.

The soldier covered her arms over her chest with his arms, his muscular limbs eclipsing her smaller ones and blocking the cold air from freezing her soft skin. The spy grabbed his forearms intending to pull his hands off of her and step out of his grasp, but when he held her tighter, she slowly relented and allowed her body to melt into him. Steve leaned down and placed his warm cheek against her forehead. Against her will, Natasha turned into him and closed her eyes as she felt him all around her.

"Steve," she whispered tenderly.

"Tell me," he ordered soothingly. "What else is wrong?"

"This," Natasha answered in a tearful whisper.

"What?" he asked.

"Us," the spy began, turning in his arms and opening her eyes to face him. She rested her small hands on his broad chest as she gazed up into his eyes. "I've worked with a lot of people. I've had partners before. Against my training, I've been worried for others in combat and risked my life to save them. I … understand that. But what … what I felt tonight … is something I've never ever felt before in my life. The fear of losing someone … has never been like this. The thought that I might have hurt you was hard, but thinking that you may have died … was almost more than I could bear."

"That's how much you mean to me," Steve whispered as his eyes softened.

Natasha's eyes fell to his lips, then she gazed uncertainly back up at him. All of this felt surreal, almost like a dream. In that moment, she realized what she needed. She had to have proof of life. Her heart needed to know that he was real, that she hadn't hurt him, that he hadn't died. Her fingers reached up to slide along his cheeks, and her toes raised in a perfect ballerina stance. She kissed him, tenderly, sweetly, reassuringly, holding his lips against her own in an almost chaste kiss which was full of passion. His hands held her waist firmly, drawing her nearer to him. When she leaned back, she laid her forehead against his own and both of them closed their eyes.

"Come inside," Steve whispered after a long quiet moment.

The weary spy didn't resist. Steve pulled her along with him, taking them back inside the warmth of the main auditorium. They were still holding hands as they walked down the hallway to their bedrooms. Natasha tried to pull her hand away as Steve started to lead her back into his room.

"Steve, no," she whispered. "I can't trust myself."

"I trust you," he told her again more forcefully this time, already anticipating her reluctance. "Until we figure out what's going on, we shouldn't be apart, no matter what. We're safer together."

Steve knew that he needed to get through to her in this moment right now. If the spy was allowed to remain inside her mind with this vulnerability, her fear and doubt would grow and inevitably drive a wedge between them. The future of their relationship hinged on moments like these between them.

"I'm not sure," she hesitated.

"Besides," he added with a kind grin, hoping their memorable moments together would reach her. "Public displays of affection make shadows very uncomfortable."

Her eyes softened. "Yes, they do," she said tenderly.

Placing his hands on her hips, Steve drew her in for a comforting embrace. He kissed her, sliding his lips along hers and opening his mouth to draw her further in. They didn't deepen the kiss with their tongues, but it was still heated and sensual, as they leaned into each other in one synonymous motion. Steve's hands pulled Natasha closer and wrapped around her back, while one of her hands slid along his strong firm shoulderblade and the other tilted his cheek to kiss him more deeply. When she felt his powerful manly hands pick her up by her hips and her toes leave the floor, the spy knew she had to stop now, or she may not be able to stop at all. In her life, the spy had never ever known desire like this. She no longer felt the strength to pull away from him.

The soldier had come to the same conclusion at the same time. He had intended to allow his affection for her to show through to comfort and ease her, but the feelings between them had quickly almost gotten out of control. Every touch only made them want even more. They parted with thinly veiled desire hanging heavy in the air between them.

"You… still uncomfortable?" he asked in a husky whisper.

"That's… not exactly the word I would use," she breathed sexily.

They shared a gentle smile, then the two of them walked into his bedroom. Steve slid under the covers and pulled her with him. They both knew they were far too wired to lay back and sleep, so Steve sat up with his back against the headboard and Natasha curled up beside him. The soldier pulled her legs across his waist and kept her close, using their proximity to not allow her cold defenses to force him away from her again.

The only thought in his mind was that he had to keep this woman close to him. The only thought in her mind was that she couldn't lose this one man. Around them, the eerie night faded into complete silence as the two of them held one another close.

* * *

The dawn seemed to break a little earlier on the horizon the following morning. The frigid cold of the night passed away quickly, rapidly replaced by the sweltering heat the sun always brought with it. The nature of the island was more alive than ever, as the waves of the ocean broke almost violently on the shore. A harsh breeze blew all the trees and forestry from side to side in an unsteady rhythm. It looked like hurricane weather.

The nature of the island was a reflection of the danger within it.

The soldier awoke to the noise of branches and loose foliage crashing intermittently against the outer walls of the outpost. He sat up quickly, looking around uncertainly. The sight of his bed took him by surprise.

He was the only one there. The room was empty. Natasha had left him.

Steve was up out of the bed in one motion. Usually perceptive even in his sleep, the soldier hadn't felt her leave. He quickly made his way across the hall to look into her room, only to find it devoid of the spy as well.

"Natasha?" he called out in concern. "Nat?"

He stepped inside her bedroom and took in the surroundings. Her boots and his shirt were nowhere to be seen. All traces of her were gone. She had left him.

Grabbing his shield, Steve turned and made his way out of the outpost. He should be able to track her through the sand and brush. Still, he knew that Natasha was one of the best stealth agents in the business. If she didn't want him to find her, he would have a very difficult time doing so. He had to move fast. With haste, he made his way down the hallway and checked the other rooms of the outpost before following her footstep tracks into the forest.

* * *

Moments earlier, Natasha had been jarred awake by Steve's sudden rush of motion. She hadn't been asleep, having only dozed a little for the rest of the night, but she had finally been feeling a little calm and more relaxed. Then, he had suddenly slid out from under her as if she hadn't been there.

Usually, he was very attentive to her body, and it felt surprisingly odd to feel him disregard her so completely. Even when he manhandled her lifting her up or even slamming her back against a wall, they had both felt a physical bonding on a deep level, as if they were in touch with each other. This time, she could tell that things were completely different because she felt absolutely nothing from him.

"Steve?" she called out to him uncertainly. "What's wrong?"

Natasha watched as he looked around the bedroom in alarm before hurrying across the hall to her room, not reacting at all to her words. She sat up and stared intently at him. There was something very wrong.

"Natasha?" he called out. "Nat?"

"Steve," the spy called, her voice loud and firm as her brow furrowed in concern.

Again, he didn't seem to hear her at all. In a second, he was gone, moving through the outpost on some strange quest to find her when she was right there in front of him. Natasha jumped up and ran out into the hallway, calling after him again, but he was already outside. The spy only spared a moment to snatch up her gun, knife and katana before she rushed outside after him.

* * *

The heat of the day seemed to bear down unusually hard on the super soldier as he ran through the forest at full speed. He could see the footprints of her small feet in the sand, and he moved quickly. He kept his shield close in case anything was amiss.

His mind thought of the past, and the irony of his always seeming to chase those he cares for. He remembered running after The Winter Soldier, his dear friend Bucky, after he'd nearly assassinated The Director. He felt much the same then as he did now.

Soon, he followed the prints into a small clearing. In the center of the space, they just disappeared. The soldier stumbled to a halt, looking all around him for any sign of Natasha.

Instead, he was greeted by a deep dark demonic voice.

"You won't find her, Captain," it whispered in his ear.

Steve held his shield at the ready as he looked around him at just the empty space. He couldn't tell if the voice was all around him or just in his mind. It seemed to be reverberating out of the air.

"Where is she?" he asked with a threatening tone. "Who are you? What do you want?"

"I have her," the voice growled. "If you defeat me, you may see her again."

"Before we get started," Steve said as his eyes narrowed for combat. "Let her go. I warn you I will destroy you if you don't."

"Here I come, Captain."

Steve whirled around behind him to see the dark shadow rushing toward him, this time with two glowing red orbs, coming at him from the same direction in which he had run into the clearing. His body focused, but there was an unusual hesitation in his mind. His vision blurred for a moment, and the red eyes seemed to be strands of auburn hair for just a moment, but he quickly recovered and let his shield fly.

* * *

The Black Widow had been running as fast as she could trying to catch up to The Captain. The serum she had been given enhanced her physicality, but the super soldier was simply on a higher level. She pushed as hard as she possibly could, but she didn't have a hope of catching him. She had to rely on his footprints to follow his trail.

For some reason, he jogged to a halt in a clearing several yards ahead of her. She caught sight of him as he was looking around, and his lips were moving as if he was speaking to someone, but there was no one near him.

Then, to her shock, he turned … looked directly at her … strangely narrowing his eyes as he stared at her hair … and then threw his shield at her!

Caught completely by surprise, the spy dove forward, attempting to evade the deadly disc. She didn't make it. Natasha felt the intense rush of air and metal vibration as his shield passed within inches of her head and rebounded off a tree beside her before her feet left the ground.

She knew that Steve had missed on purpose.

Her heart lifted. Whatever was happening, her Steve was still with her. They would find a way out of this together.

The Black Widow landed smoothly on the ground and segued into a roll and came up out of it with her gun aimed where The Captain's chest had been just seconds ago. To her surprise, he was already in the air above her, catching his shield and coming down on her positioned for a forward smash. She dodged to the side just as he slammed his shield into the ground where she had been, wincing from the powerful pressure of his impact as the concussive force slid her across the ground leaving track lines in the sand.

Natasha evaluated this combat situation. She had sparred with Steve many times over the years, and she had suspected that he had always held back in his teaching and training sessions, but she'd had no idea just how much he had restrained himself.

The Captain was good. Very good. Excellent in fact. His precision was flawless, his technique was infallible and his brilliant tactical mind was always three moves ahead of his opponent.

She wasn't going to be able to be a match for him.

"Steve?" she called out, remembering that his words had brought her back last night and hoping she may be able to do the same for him. "It's Natasha. Natasha Romanoff. Can you hear me, Steve? I'm your teammate. I'm your partner. I'm your … friend. You asked for a friend, remember?"

At her words, Steve stood to his feet slowly and stared down at her. Lowering his shield to his side, he began to walk toward her purposefully. The Black Widow recognized the opening. She raised her gun and aimed it at the center of his chest.

Her Steve was in there. He was allowing her the chance to stop him … before he hurt her.

Natasha's finger tensed on the trigger. In an instant, she knew that she couldn't pull it. If almost harming him last night had emotionally shattered her the way that it had, she knew she wouldn't be able to live with herself if anything happened to him.

"Where is she?" Steve said threateningly. "I'm not going to ask you again."

Steve wasn't playing around. With his intention to rescue her, he was the consummate warrior. However, maybe his intent was the key to getting them out of this. Suddenly, a plan came to her. Despite whatever was happening to him, Steve had still been conscious enough to not hurt her so far. Not regarding the risk to her own life, she would push him to the edge, and that just might bring him back.

Lowering her gun and rolling forward, the spy jumped up, kicking the soldier with both feet in the center of his chest. The impact sent him stumbling backwards a few feet, but the weight of her thin frame barely phased him. The Black Widow pressed her attack, running up to him and leaping into the air, smoothly swinging her legs trying to wrap them around his neck. The super soldier was too fast, and he roughly grabbed her by her knees and swung her around. Helpless in mid-air, Natasha caught sight of a thick tree which he was angling her toward. At the last second, Steve angled his swing wider, making her miss the tree and instead land hard in the soft sand near it. She tumbled for a few feet before preparing to spring up.

Suddenly, Steve was on top of her. She had barely stopped spinning before he had her pinned down with her wrists alongside her head and her knees on the sides of his hips. The two combatants were breathing hard and sweating profusely, both from the sweltering heat of the day ... and the burning unrequited passion between them.

* * *

Moments earlier, Steve had been struggling to clear his mind after he threw his shield at the red eyed shadow figure. It was a battle to keep his tactical mind functioning through the haze which kept him dim and unfocused. The primary motivating factor for him was that this entity had taken Natasha, and the soldier was prepared to do anything and everything necessary to get her back.

The entity was faster than his shield, disappearing almost instantly, and Steve plotted its reflect path before he jumped into the air. The deadly vibranium disc rebounded off an adjacent tree and then soared back toward him. The shadow quickly materialized again, now rising out of the ground underneath him. The soldier caught his shield and then swung downward, landing on the ground with a concussive slam which blew back the trees and sand in the clearing. The shadow seemed to have been knocked backward, phasing in and out of sight as if injured.

"If … If you surrender yourself to me," the low growl of the entity's voice called out to him. "I will release her. Lower your shield."

Standing to his feet, the soldier didn't hesitate. He would unconditionally give his life for Natasha. He lowered his defense and began to walk toward the shadow. As he neared it, the entity seemed to take a more corporeal form. It was still slightly translucent, but it now looked as if he may be able to hold and restrain it. It would be more vulnerable if it was more physical.

"Where is she?" asked Steve, knowing that he couldn't destroy the entity before he located his partner. "I'm not going to ask you again."

"I lied, just as she does. The woman tried to kill you," it whispered. "Why do you even want her back? You can never trust her."

With those words, it lunged at him. Steve blinked his eyes, and for just a flash of a moment, he thought he saw Natasha charging toward him. His reflexes reacted instantly, and he dove to catch the now corporeal entity in his grip. He knew he had to grab it quickly before it disappeared again. This shadow was his only link to finding Natasha.

* * *

"Stop lying," the soldier growled, obviously responding to words Natasha hadn't spoken but which he must have heard in his mind.

"I'm right here, Steve," she said in a low voice. "I'm not going to hurt you. I know … I know you wouldn't hurt me."

With those words, the spy slowly opened both of her hands in surrender. She let her pistol slip from her right hand to fall harmlessly into the sand. Steve blinked his eyes at her gesture, and some measure of cognizance seemed to have returned to his mind. He released her wrists, and with a slight shrug of his arm, he let his shield slip from his forearm to land on the ground beside them.

Now, she had him right where she wanted him.

Moving very slowly, never breaking eye contact with him, Natasha raised her hands and gently placed them on the sides of his face. Simultaneously, she let her legs wrap along his waist, her small feet resting behind his muscular thighs.

"Steve," she purred in a gentle whisper.

Natasha leaned up and kissed Steve. He was unresponsive, his face momentarily blank and expressionless, but she reached up higher to tangle her fingers in his hair and pull him down into her. When she opened her mouth, she felt him subtlely start to kiss her back. Their tongues intertwined as his body lowered to press down on her.

Suddenly, Steve's head snapped up away from her. He looked around quickly, trying to get his bearings. His vision was foggy, and he squeezed his eyes before blinking them several times. As he shook his head in his fight to gain clarity, small tendrils of black smoke slipped out from between his eyelids. He looked around again before staring down at Natasha. His face held the visage of a man waking from a horrible nightmare.

In that moment, revelation struck Natasha. She caught the sight of the dark thin mist leaving his eyes. They hadn't defeated the shadow inside the installation earlier at all. Instead, it had infected them and lay dormant, waiting to turn them against each other. It had deceived them into almost killing one another. If not for their inner hidden feelings, it may have succeeded.

"Nat! Natasha! Are you okay?" Steve asked exasperatedly as he stared down at her. "I … I almost …"

"No, Steve," she quickly comforted him. "No, you didn't. You were in control the whole time. I'm okay. I'm alright."

At her words, the soldier was overcome with extreme relief. He wrapped his arms around the redhead and yanked her up into a hard embrace, squeezing her tightly. Natasha remembered the fear which had gripped her heart at almost losing him the previous night, and she knew how he felt. Steve leaned back and kissed her hard, and Natasha was completely unable to resist melting into him.

His lips were inside her own as one hand held the back of her hair and pulled her more deeply into him, his other hand on the center of her back crushing her soft breasts against his firm broad chest. Natasha couldn't help but respond to his tenacity, her own latent feelings still bare and raw from last night. Her hands grabbed roughly all over the powerful muscles of his back before one tangled in his golden hair while the other locked around his neck.

The moment completely overtook both of them. Their feelings were no longer hidden. There was no more holding back.

Natasha pulled Steve down on top of her, and their bodies pressed fully together. She wrapped her legs around his back while he looped his arms under her shoulders. His fingers felt all through the silken curls of her auburn hair while her hands began to roam sensuously over his neck and shoulders. The two of them kissed continually, until it seemed as if they couldn't stop and never wanted to. Their mutual passion was going to overwhelm them.

Suddenly, all around them, a massive wind began to blow through the air, leaning the trees over and rising up the foliage on the ground. The loose forestry began to spin in a near circular pattern as the swaying of the trees started to match their motion. It seemed almost as if a miniature hurricane or tornado was forming around them.

Steve quickly stood and lifted Natasha up with him, taking his shield in hand while she picked up her handgun. Standing back to back at the ready, Steve and Natasha reached behind them, their hands joining for a final touch. Whatever the island held for them, they would face it together.


	6. Chapter 6

The entire environment of the island was in a complete uproar. Hurricane winds were whipping through the trees and forestry, sending a torrent of debris and shrapnel swirling through the air. Out on the ocean, a massive wave of tremendous power was quickly building.

On the shore, Steve and Natasha were standing back to back, their hands intertwined as they held his shield and her gun ready to defend themselves. Whatever was happening around them was not natural, and there was now a malevolent heaviness in the air. All of a sudden, there was a rush of intense heat which felt akin to a wall of fire burning over them.

As the air burned their skin, the two of them turned to face inland. An eerie black fog was floating through the trees, somehow moving slowly despite the violent winds spinning around the forest. In the midst of the black cloud, several dark shadow figures could be seen inside of it, menacingly walking toward Steve and Natasha.

"Steve!" called Natasha over the wailing of the rushing winds, aiming her gun at the shadows.

"I see them!" he yelled back, holding his shield in front of them protectively. "Stay behind me!"

"There's too many of them!"

As they watched, more and more of the shadows began to fade in out of the darkness. The Captain and The Black Widow had stood side by side and faced an army of alien warriors in the battle of New York, but both of them knew this was a different kind of struggle. As their previous experience had shown them, these shadows were attempting to destroy from the inside rather than the outside. They had been unsuccessful in stopping just one of these dark beings from getting into them, and they had a slim to none chance of taking down an army of them.

The thin forest behind them only led to the ocean, and they were effectively trapped.

Then, just when it seemed as if the situation couldn't get more dire, the direction of the winds changed, and a strong forceful air started to blow from behind them, overpowering the circular air which had been oppressing them. A thundering sound accompanied the new wind, along with a massive cracking shake as an earthquake seemed to resound underneath them. It felt as if the island was suddenly coming apart.

Steve looked around while Natasha stayed focused on their approaching adversaries. His eyes grew wide at the sight of the ocean. They were in serious trouble.

There was a tidal wave behind them, already almost right on top of the island.

"Natasha!" he called loudly over the intense noise all around them.

His voice struck her. The spy turned around, and her mouth fell slightly open. Her eyes slowly traveled up higher and higher, staring in shock at the thirty foot wall of water bearing down on them.

"Oh boy," she said.

The tactician glanced at Natasha and then back at the wave. There was one thing very peculiar about it. The top of the water sparkled, seemingly as if there were lights, almost figures above its surface. His mind catalogued the strange sight, and then he burst into motion.

As always, the soldier and the spy moved together. Natasha ran into Steve as he wrapped his arm tightly around her waist and lifted her off her feet. He quickly made a few more steps, securing his shield on his right forearm as he wrapped his right arm around a thin but firm tree trunk. As he held Natasha close with his left arm, she hugged him tightly around his shoulders, burying her face in his neck.

Suddenly, the tidal wave crashed into the shore of the island. The massive impact snatched them up off their feet and held them horizontal as the powerful waters tore past them. Holding on to the tree with his shield over his arm as an added protection, Steve looked behind them at their adversaries. Oddly, the shadow army seemed to be trying to retreat as the wall of water smashed into them. With their translucent and ethereal nature, they should have been able to emerge unharmed. However, they were falling back, trying to escape the torrent. They were afraid of it, or perhaps more accurately, afraid of the beings of light in the water. Steve realized that there was much more going on here than met the eye. They were in the midst of a conflict beyond their comprehension.

Holding onto him with all her strength, the spy tucked Steve's head into her neck, trying to provide as much protection for his extremities as she could while he heroically kept both their bodies as safe as humanly possible. The intense pressure of the water overpowered her, and she could only squeeze her eyes shut and hang on to her Captain. Steve felt the unbelievable force of the tidal wave on his body, and its power strained his muscles past their limits. He felt as if the elements were going to tear him apart.

The Captain held on to the tree even more strongly, using it as an anchor against the torrential waters. He was strengthened by the thought of keeping Natasha safe. He raised his head and stared down at her. There was a similar fear in her eyes as when the army base had exploded around them, and now just as then, he knew that he would die to protect her.

Totally submerged under water, the force of the tidal wave increased around them. The very earth underneath them seemed to be shaking and moving. Natasha was holding her breath, and the terrible pressure took her to the point of nearly losing consciousness. Steve wasn't sure how much more he could take, but he knew that he would never give up.

The Captain wouldn't give. His will was too strong. The tree did.

Suddenly, their anchor was gone. The sturdy wood of the trunk snapped completely into two pieces at the juncture of Steve's arm, and the wave swept them away. There was no hope of steering or directing their course, and they spun totally out of control. The soldier curled his left arm under the spy's thighs and drew her into him, completely wrapping his muscular frame around her and putting his shield across her side to cover her.

Almost immediately, crashing impacts began to rock them. The first was a crashing crack against Steve's back which resounded even under the water. Natasha's hands grabbed helplessly at his shoulderblades, desperately trying to protect him somehow. Curling her more tightly against him, the soldier's only concern was for his lady. Several more crushing blows smashed into them, some more over his back, two against his legs and one against the back of his head.

Then, there was a massively powerful thundering cracking sound, and the world beneath them fell away. They were suddenly on top of the water, then they found themselves thrust completely out of it and falling through the air. The ground below them had opened up into a massive fissure. The tidal wave carrying them was now rushing down into it. Still clutching each other tightly, the momentum of the water had thrust them out of it as it angled downward, leaving the two of them in a free fall in open air.

Crushing Natasha against his chest, Steve looked below them as they tumbled. His keen vision could make out the water flowing horizontally again down several feet inside the fissure, but still angling downward. The soldier felt no concern for himself. His only worry was for the woman in his arms. He held her closer to him.

As the two of them spun in mid-air, Natasha could barely see anything inside the earthquake beneath them. Her mind thought back to when that missile had destroyed the army base, causing it to collapse around them. She wasn't sure if Steve was going to be able to pull them out of this one alive. Her arms held him as tightly as she could. The last thought in her mind was that out of all the ways she could have died during her turbulent life, she could not have asked for a better way to go than in the arms of Steven Grant Rogers.

Natasha took one last look down to see something rushing up at them.

Then everything went black.

* * *

A short time later, the water current had flowed into an underground stream. It was still moving strongly, but its flowing was now much more calm and serene than it had been. The tidal wave had flowed into a body of water in the lower levels which almost seemed to be perfectly positioned to receive it.

Suddenly, the surface of the water was split apart with a splash as Steve surged out of it. He carried Natasha in his arms with one hand under her thighs and the other around her back, cradling her unconscious body tightly against his chest. With haste, the soldier stumbled triumphantly out of the water and onto the stone shore beside them.

They were in some kind of a cavern. There were structures around them, seemingly hewn out of the rocky walls themselves, or somehow blended in with them. The entire architecture surrounding them was unusual with an oddly beautiful design of civilization mixed with landscape, but the soldier didn't pause to take notice.

Natasha wasn't breathing. Steve's rational mind told him that she was a very strong woman, she had been given a serum similar to his own, and they hadn't been underwater for an extreme length of time. However, his heart was ablaze with almost as much dread and fury as he'd felt when they had been inside the glacier waking up in this land.

Laying her down flat on her back, Steve pushed lightly down on the center of her chest, careful not to break any bones with his immense strength. Then, he leaned down and covered her soft lips with his own, breathing his life into her. After three repetitions, Natasha coughed loudly.

With a caring firmness which belied his hidden feelings for her, Steve helped her turn onto her side and watched as she coughed several large mouthfuls of water out of her lungs. The spy squeezed her eyes shut with the slightly painful exertion until she could breathe somewhat fluidly once again. As she sat up, her body began to tremble badly, the cold of the water having a very adverse effect on her metabolism.

Beside her, Steve leaned on one knee. He was in excruciating pain, and it was steadily growing worse. His back was aching profusely, as were his shoulders and legs. At the moment, he gave no concern to himself. Natasha's well being was all he cared about.

Sliding over to position himself behind her, the weary soldier slid his thick arms over her torso and pulled her back into him, placing her slim back against his firm chest. His arms crossed over her chest as his hands reached all the way to cover both her shoulders, tucking her in. Natasha hands grabbed the outsides of his thighs and drew his legs in to brace against her sides before reaching up to hold onto his muscular forearms.

Natasha was glad that Steve was behind her and couldn't see her face. A feeling of blissful contentment fell over her, and she allowed her eyes to slip closed. Over the last few days, she had come to adore feeling Steve hold her like this. Something inside her needed and craved this kind of ... caring .. on a level buried so deep that she hadn't even known it existed until him. The spy felt his welcome warmth cover her.

"I ... I'm okay, Steve," the spy lied, her defensive mechanism attempting to deny her the caring she so desperately needed.

"I know," answered the soldier, already anticipating her resistance.

"Where are we?" Natasha asked, looking up at their surroundings.

"Well, it's very scenic," he told her as he mustered a gentle smile.

Around them, the space was filled with debris and belongings all over the ground. There were several large holes in the surface high above them, leading all the way back up to the main land as many brilliant beams of sunlight shined through in different places. The temples, housings and caves around them all showed signs of having been inhabited at one time, some of them perhaps even recently. Water and precipitation dripped off of everything, mixing with the heat of the day and causing a hazy steaming fog to cloud over everything which almost seemed to sparkle with illumination. Even in these depths, the island was breathtakingly beautiful and serene.

"You seem pretty chipper for a man that almost just died," said Natasha.

"Well, like I said, I just like to know who I'm fighting," Steve said, leaning back before struggling to stand to his feet with a barely concealed groan of intense pain. "And we didn't almost just die."

"You've figured out something about this place," stated the spy, missing his warmth immediately. She turned to look behind her and noticed the look of pain on his face and how slowly he was standing. "What is it, Steve?"

"I think I know ... what we're up against," he told her with a low grunt as he straightened his back.

"No, not that," Natasha said, quickly standing to her feet and walking over to him. "I meant, what's wrong with ... "

Her words caught in her throat. Staring at him through clear eyes, she could see just the slight indentation of a wound along the top edge of his muscled shoulderblade. Stepping over quickly, she walked behind him.

The soldier's back was badly wounded. There were several large gashes torn into his flesh, each of them having a dark red and black color. Some of them were large thick lines while others were smaller slightly bleeding cuts. There were also a few horizontal bruises across his legs as well. It looked as if someone had violently whipped him across his back.

Natasha didn't breathe. She had seen many battle injuries before and had endured more wounds than she could count herself, but this was different. Tactically, the spy knew that Steve could have protected himself by covering his back with his shield or angling it to prevent most of this damage to his body, but he hadn't.

He had endured this for her.

Steve had kept his shield around her the entire time, leaving himself completely unprotected. Instinctively, one of Natasha's small hands raised to touch his upper shoulders, and the soldier winced with a touch of pain. He was in bad shape.

"Steve," she whispered brokenly.

"I'll live," he said over his shoulder to her with a tender smile.

"We ... We need warm water," the spy said, suddenly spurned into action. "I know what to do."

"I think ... you'll probably find what you need just around that corner over there," said the soldier, motioning to a large hole cut into a side wall not too far in front of them.

"How do you know that?" the spy asked with a furrowed brow as she stepped over to the opening.

"The same way I now know that there's probably a blanket or something around here to keep you warm," he said with a strained sigh as he slowly made his way after her. "I got up to find it, but I think you'll probably walk right into something that will suffice."

Natasha didn't call back to him as she stepped through the opening. As her feet sunk into the wet sandy rock beneath her, she almost stumbled as she took in the sight in front of her.

There was a steaming waterfall above her. A massive hole had been opened several hundred yards over the lower depths, and a torrent of water was falling in a continuous controlled steam. She thought maybe there should have been a rushing sound of the water's momentum, but it was surprisingly tame and serene. There was a luminous quality to the water, with little sparkling circles seeming to glow beneath its surface.

"How is the water warm?" Natasha asked in confusion as she walked over and held a hand under it. "I don't think it should be able to maintain its heat since it's falling from such a height up on the surface."

"I think we're going to see a lot of these little miracles," said Steve as he stepped into the water basin beside her. "We may have been seeing them all along."

"Explain later," Natasha said, setting down her gun and taking his arm to gently lead him over to the water. "Right now, you need to heal."

The soldier held in his grunt, but he still grimaced slightly in pain. It felt as if every muscle of his body was on fire. There was a hard dull ache in the back of his head, and he knew he had been struck badly there. He felt as if he might lose consciousness.

"Put your hands on the wall," the spy told him.

Laying aside his shield, Steve stepped under the falling water, and he felt it cascade over his damaged body. He closed his eyes with a heavy sigh as he endured the helping pain of the liquid washing over his wounds.

Then, he felt Natasha's soft hands start to rub along the sides of his neck from beyond. She applied a pressure which was firm yet tender as she slowly began to move down over his shoulderblades. Her pleasurable touch immediately began to make his pain subside.

"Is this ... something else .. about you that wasn't in your file, like your culinary skills?" he asked, his voice sounding more like a moan than a query.

"I read your file too, Soldier," she answered with a sly grin. "I also did some additional research into the original formula. Your metabolism is strengthened and healed by motion and activity. When you're injured in battle, the more you keep fighting, the faster you heal and the stronger you become. Quite brilliant. Relax now, Steve," she whispered. "Just relax."

With his body aching badly from his wounds, the soldier acquiesced to her. Lowering his head, he let the warm water fall over hm. Behind him, Natasha paused to unwrap her sarong and let it fall to the ground away from them. The soothingly warm water raining down on them had already washed off the dirt and debris from their tumbling in the tidal wave, and she ran her hands through her hair to smooth it down.

Then, rubbing a good amount of the water into her hands, she put them onto his upper back and began to massage. Knowing how strong Steve was, the spy wasn't gentle. Pushing hard against his firm muscles, she wanted him to feel her. The soldier didn't stifle a slight groan at how good Natasha's hands felt on him. Natasha massaged all over Steve's shoulderblades and upper arms before again covering the top half of his muscular back. The feeling intensified as she moved lower, stepping closer to him to change the angle of her hands.

A heat rose between them inside of the warm water. As Natasha worked on him, she couldn't deny the warm embers which stirred inside her at touching this man like this. The feeling was still somewhat foreign to her senses. Even when she had tried her best to love her ex-husband Alexei, he had never made her feel desire like this. Steve made her feel ways which she had nearly thought herself incapable of experiencing.

The super soldier gave himself over to the moment. He looked upward and let the water wash over his face before lowering his head again, totally lost in sensation. The life giving flow falling over him felt wondrous, but the sensual feeling of Natasha's hands on him was more overwhelming. He knew that he desired the gorgeous spy, and the feel of her massaging him seemed almost to be healing not only his body but his mind as well. Her caress was far more intoxicating than any drink he had ever tasted.

The result of her ministrations was visible. Natasha could see the red and black bruises lighten slightly, and she knew that the large deep cuts across his skin should be healing more even though her ears couldn't perceive the repair.

As her hands moved lower to rub his hips around his buttocks and his upper thighs, she noticed that both of them were breathing a little heavier. Even the warm water falling over them seemed as if it had gotten hot. She knew that she needed to use business to get their minds off of the sensuality between them.

"What ... What did you figure out earlier?" she asked in a whisper that came out sounding more like a seductive purr.

"We're ... being protected," he managed, his vocal cords taking a moment to respond.

"Protected? By the beings of light in the tidal wave?"

"You never cease to amaze me," Steve said with admiration. "With the world going crazy on us up there, you were still able to see them?"

"I caught a glimpse," she grinned appreciatively, touched by the fact that a man was showing genuine value in her skills instead of only fear and unease. "Who do you think they were?"

"I think they were almost certainly the polar opposite of the shadow entities that were coming after us. The disturbances in the elements saved us. I think maybe ... they've been helping us all along."

"Angels and ... demons?"

"Maybe so," he answered. "I think this island is very much in touch with nature. These forces are always around us in our everyday lives. This place, wherever it is, seems to be more connected than our normal reality."

"That does make sense," Natasha reasoned. "It would explain what happened when we almost ... hurt each other."

"We'll figure out the rest together," said Steve, turning around in reaction to the pain he heard in her voice.

Natasha looked down, still feeling hurt and shame over her treatment of him last night. While Steve had been able to maintain some modicum of control, she had been completely taken over, and she would have killed the man which meant the most to her in the world.

The soldier wouldn't allow his partner to feel this way. This woman meant far too much to him to let her shoulder this guilt along with the weight she already bore from the lives her hands had taken.

Placing his hands on the sides of her cheeks, Steve tilted Natasha's face up toward him as he leaned down toward her. He kissed her strongly on her lips, pushing into her intently. The spy was unresponsive, reaching her hands up against his chest intending to pull away from him. The soldier embraced her with more fervor, and the woman inside her began to respond to him and the moment.

She was standing under a beautiful sparkling waterfall, warm water washing over her heated skin, being kissed by the man of her heart. Her lips parted, and he immediately slid between them, letting her feel his passion for her. Steve wanted this woman with intensity. She completed him, and he felt as if he needed her more with each passing minute. The falling water seemed to slow down just for the two of them, bathing them in a soft torrent of tenderness.

Natasha started to kiss Steve back passionately, leaning into him with all her might. Pressing her body against his own, she curled her arms around his back, her nails scratching down his waist in her now heated response.

The wounded soldier winced with a slight groan as burning pain scorched up the injured nerves in his back. The sudden motion broke their passionate embrace, and their hands lowered to intertwine their fingers at their sides. Steve and Natasha laid their foreheads against each other and closed their eyes, still feeling the bathing caress of the waterfall flowing over them.

Taking his arm, Natasha carefully drew Steve away from the beautiful waterfall and led him over sat down with his side against a small hill of soft clay. Rest was paramount for him right now, and he wasn't in any condition to be doing anything else until his super soldier body had healed. She retrieved her sarong and made it into a soft covering for him to lay his shoulder on. Then, she stood and turned away from him preparing to head past the waterfall to find nourishment for the two of them.

"I'll be back soon," she whispered.

Steve's hand reached out to catch hers in a firm grip.

"We'll go together," he said, already slightly groaning as he prepared to stand again.

"I got this," Natasha told him as she leaned over and gently pushed him back down with her other hand on his strong chest.

Natasha stood back up, but Steve didn't let go of her hand. She knew what he needed, and it was the very same thing which she wanted herself. Slipping to her knees in front of him as she intertwined the fingers of his hand already holding her own, she placed her other hand on his cheek and drew him to her for a kiss. Their lips melded together softly, and this chaste contact provided the reassurance both of them wanted. His other hand gripped the small of her back to edge her a little closer, even if just for a short moment.

A mutual sigh of longing slipped from both of them simultaneously. Then, Natasha pulled away and headed off on her journey.

Looking after her, the soldier couldn't help but notice that she hadn't taken his clothes that she usually wore or bothered to straighten her panties which had slipped to being barely a thin line around her sexy midsection. For once, he allowed himself to gaze at her lovely figure as she walked away.

Well, he may have been ninety five, and wounded, but he wasn't dead.

As the mystery around them began to deepen, the island would have many more revelations for them to come.


	7. Chapter 7

Some time later, after a long much needed rest, the soldier and the spy had slowly explored the immediate surroundings of their new habitation, carefully searching for a way back up to the surface. The structures were filled with belongings and gear and debris, obviously from decades long ago. A sense of pleasant adventure and discovery had fallen over the couple in their quest.

After a while, they had found a particularly sturdy and well insulated housing room just a short way from where they had washed up into the small city. Natasha had convinced Steve to lay down on his stomach and rest while she searched to gather food.

The day had passed surprisingly fast, with the wounded soldier resting at the spy's behest and passing in and out of consciousness while she brought a steady gathering of food from a nearby side stream. Preparing their new abode for habitation took a good deal of time, as she set up new cooking quarters and settled a good rest area for them.

After an early dinner, she had gone to capture one last additional bale of food before making her way back to their makeshift bedroom. Steve had just started a very warm pleasant fire in its center to repel the coming cold of the evening. Walking back through the small entranceway to set down the next catch, Natasha noticed that Steve was handling a golden stringed instrument of some kind in his hands. As she dropped to her knees to set down the large catch, she looked up to notice the soldier eying her intensely.

Without taking his eyes off of her, Steve reached down and began to run his fingers across the strings of the instrument, and a lovely melodic echo similar to the music of a cello resounded from the walls around them. Although it was obvious that the instrument was somehow manufacturing the lovely sounds, the strange object seemed to have the ability to draw the music out of the atmosphere around them. The song Steve was playing was coming from everywhere at once. Having quickly gained a semblance of control over the golden harp like object, the artistic soldier was able to lower the volume of the music as he continued staring at the spy.

"You seem pretty chipper for a guy that could still be in danger," she said with a grin.

"These are some of the best times in war," Steve said as he returned her grin with one of his own. "Back in war days, when we were in the trenches, it was crucial for U.S. soldiers to find ways to entertain ourselves. It kept us strong in spirit, bonded the troops, and helped us to be ready for whatever lay ahead. You don't like the melody?" he smiled.

"It's lovely, Steve," Natasha acquiesced. "You're a natural. I think you have an artistic soul."

"So do you," he told her with gentle eyes. "I know about your Bolshoi background."

"And?" Natasha asked curiously.

"Do you want to practice?" he whispered.

Her eyes stared at him for a long, silent moment before he looked up to return her gaze. As Natasha gazed into his crystal blue depths, she found her sanctuary. A calm peace fell over her.

Standing to her feet, Natasha steadied her stance. Her face became focused as she concentrated her mind into a practiced preparation. She closed her eyes.

On Steve's next high note, the ballerina raised one leg in a perfect ninety degree angle and then spun around with a graceful turn which left his shirt sarong soaring outward from her slim waist. She executed an excellent pirouette, then lifted up on her tiptoes to spin around. As she did, she opened her eyes and gazed down at the man beside her.

The soldier was staring up at her with a gentle awe and reverie, completely captivated by her beauty and grace. His eyes bored into her every muscle, not missing an inch of movement. In this moment, Natasha was the center of Steve's universe.

His adoration of her lifted her to new heights. Here, in this near magical place, the world weary spy found herself rejuvenated. The ballerina moved as she had never danced before in her life. Finding a smile for him pulled from the depths of her heart, she slowly edged toward him, then she colorfully danced around him, spinning strongly to let her sarong flow outward over his face. If her captain was captivated by her performance, then she was going to give him a show.

For the first time in her life, Natasha felt light, clear and … free. Her body moved like it never had before. She could feel the dance, she could feel her rhythm, and she could feel her own soul. In her world, she had always fought with her ballet, forcing her arms and legs to perform movements which her mind could picture but her body found foreign. It was always a struggle for her.

Yet, here with Steve, she was able to truly dance for the first time. Natasha had become one with the ballet. Her soul was dancing now.

The soldier gazed up at her, watching the soft glow of her spirit, a sight he hadn't laid eyes on before. She smiled down at him, and he knew that he was being blessed with seeing a glimpse of Natalia, the unburdened young woman that lived inside of the combat veteran Natasha. To him, Natalia was stunningly beautiful.

Lost in his ballerina, the soldier strummed the harp downward on a low note, and she dropped smoothly to the ground in front of him. She was winded and breathing heavily, with a light sheen of sweat glistening all over her skin, but she had never felt better. Her green eyes looked up at him with a new light within their depths.

Still mesmerized, Steve smiled to her with a glow of his own, his eyes still focused only on her. Regaining himself a little after a moment, he let the musical instrument slip from his hands and gave her a few gentle claps of applause. His praise uplifted her, but her spirit was far more enlivened by the adoration in his cerulean blue eyes.

After standing up to give him a courteous curtsy, the spy leaned down to grab both his manly hands and pull him to his feet facing her.

"Front and center, Soldier," she ordered. "It's your turn now."

"What?" Steve said with a laugh.

"You know that song you were just playing? Listen to that in your head."

"Sorry, Nat, but ballet really isn't my thing."

"No, but I know you want to be able to dance," she told him. "I've seen it in your eyes. Now, let's see what you can do. Show me."

"I've … danced," the soldier said shyly. "I'm just … not very good at it," he stammered uncertainly.

"Everybody needs practice," whispered Natasha.

At her words, the soldier relented. He steadied himself and took a deep breath. His eyes focused as he took a nervous swallow.

Holding out his hands, he waited for Natasha to step into his arms. She did so quickly, stepping into his embrace before he could change his mind. Gently placing her body up against his own, she hooked one arm around his back and extended her other to take his hand intertwining their fingers.

With a mutual simultaneous nod, Steve and Natasha began their dance. They started with a gentle sway, in step with each other, but slightly out of tune. While Natasha flowed smoothly, the lumbering warrior bounded just shy of clumsy. He measured each step and movement with his tactical precision, foregoing grace for execution.

"Steve," the spy said with a gentle smile.

"I know," the soldier interrupted her. "I know I'm not very good at this."

"Actually, that's the problem, Steve," she told him. "You're too good. You're not dancing. You're executing a movement. Just relax. Look into my eyes, and just relax, okay?" she said comfortingly.

"All right," Steve relented with a slight breath.

The partners began again, but this time felt different. Staring down into Natasha's captivating green eyes, the soldier focused on her and not the movements. Her felt her slim body in his arms, the smoothness of her soft skin, the sweet scent which was uniquely her.

Steve began to swing Natasha more strongly, really getting into the feel of the moment. His face held a grin which was almost goofy in its unbridled joy as he barely held his elation in check. Tempted to tease him with a snarky comment, the spy refrained, not wanting to step on his moment. When he swung her around in an off beat turn and dipped her low with his hand on her lower back, the reserved agent found that he had once again slipped past her defenses. A slight grin spread over her face as she found a measure of delight in his pleasure. After a few more minutes, Natasha found herself gazing up into his eyes, feeling honored to be the woman sharing this moment with him.

Now, he was ready to feel it on his own. After giving him a brief smile, the spy closed her eyes. Then, she slowly leaned forward, and tentatively laid her head on Steve's chest.

The pace of their dance changed instantly. While Steve was still enjoying the first real dance of his life, he missed the comfort of her eyes, and he decided to derive joy from a slower more controlled rhythm. He slowed his ballroom sway to a gentle swagger, easing their bodies through a smooth synonymous flow. He kept one hand on her lower back, and he let go of her hand to slide his fingers through the back of her hair.

With their slower pace, both of them could feel more of each other. The room around them felt cool against their warm skin, the soft ground under their feet was firm, and the fire crackled in a quiet song. Steve could feel the whisper thin slips of her hair sliding through his fingers, the press of her slender body upon him, and the silent beat of her heart next to his own.

The two of them forgot all semblance of time and space as they danced together.

Lost in the essence of her soldier, Natasha looked inside herself and found that she wanted to be closer to him. Keeping her eyes closed and still feeling him all around her, the spy slowly lifted her feet one at a time and gently stepped upward to stand on top of his own. With all the grace of a master ballerina, Natasha raised up on her toes and relaxed her muscles, calming her heart and mind into a state of serenity never before experienced. A long breath slipped from her lips.

Steve held Natasha tenderly in his arms as he danced. Solace fell over him, realizing that this woman taught not to trust early in her life had found the inner strength to give herself to him like this. It was a treasure and a gift which he would never forget. The soldier began to gingerly rub his hand up and down her back while his other continually slid down the back of her hair, his touch soothing her down to the depths of her soul.

Only when his lips pressed lightly against the top of her head, did the spy slip out of their reverie. Her desire to care for him instantly overtook her. Just above a shallow whisper, her smoky voice manifested as an intimate calling.

"Now, you're just showing off," she smiled sweetly. "Time to rest, Soldier."

Steve smiled gently, but inside he admonished himself. He had gotten carried away in her and had gone too far when he'd placed that kiss on her. The soldier had wanted to dance with the ballerina forever.

Still staring up at him, Natasha stepped down off his feet. As soon as she moved away from him, it seemed as if all his aches and pains started to return. Still missing their intimacy, he allowed her to take his arm and lead him over to sit down close by the fire. Still feeling attached to one another, they spoke in quiet whispers.

"Don't lay down on your back," she told him.

"Need to keep you warm," he said though slightly gritted teeth at the movement of his back.

"On our sides," she said.

Stretching on their sides very close by the warmth of the blazing fire, the two partners cuddled tightly. Steve pulled Natasha into his arms, slipping one bulky arm under her head for her to lay her cheek on while his other wrapped around her thin shoulders. She placed one hand on his broad chest as her other slipped over his muscular shoulders and curled her fingers loosely in his hair. Steve and Natasha fell into sleep with their lips so close that they were breathing each other's air.

* * *

Hours later, in the coldest time of the morning just before the dawn, the wind was howling outside the bedroom with a strange high pitched wail. The atmosphere in the lower depths of the island was even more frigid than up on land, but the fire and the enclosed space helped insulate a good measure of warmth. An eerie stillness hung over the dark lower catacombs and tunnels.

Still wrapped snugly in Steve's strong arms, Natasha was awakened by his slight movement. She opened her eyes to find his brow furrowed with a light sheen of perspiration covering his body. His eyes fluttered quickly, and he looked as if he may be in pain. The spy deduced that his body was probably healing itself, but her heart was immediately drawn to help him.

"Steve," she whispered to him as she sat up a little. "Come here."

"Hmmm?" came his groggy reply.

The soldier was awakened by her calling to him, but his keen senses quickly ascertained that there was no danger near, and he immediately allowed his pain addled body to relax. His eyes were groggy, and his back ached with a searing pain. He felt Natasha pulling at him, angling his physique, and he trusted her enough to let her position him as she needed.

The spy turned them so that Steve was laying more heavily on her. She didn't at all mind the weight of his muscular manly frame. On the contrary, she found his body on top of her like this to be quite comforting. Sliding her thin hands over his shoulders, Natasha started to knead and massage the upper part of his ravaged back. She moved up and down the scarred flesh, rubbing him with a tender yet firm pressure designed to stimulate his circulation.

Although she realized that she was driven by guilt, Natasha earnestly wanted to improve his condition. She wasn't certain if it was in her mind or actuality, but her eyes envisioned seeing the marks on his back heal just slightly, with the redness clearing and the black bruises fading a little.

Steve moaned with her touch, and it sent sensations of pleasure rumbling through her breasts. Totally relaxed now, the battered soldier drew more comfort from her. His powerful arms slid around her upper back and his head laid snugly against her shoulder.

Natasha's eyes widened a little in surprise. This man always stirred new feelings inside her, and it took her a moment to decipher and comprehend this new sensation. Still sleepy, she allowed herself to open a little, and she let her body react. Her arms immediately wrapped around him, one hand running her fingers through the strands of hair behind his head while her other slid down the side of his face lovingly.

In these quiet moments with him, when even he wasn't aware to watch her, the spy found that she could lower her defenses and try to embrace what real life she had left. She tried to allow herself to accept the fact that she wanted this man. On some level hidden deep down inside her, she wanted him to belong to her and she wanted to belong to him. She had been incapable of this feeling during her marriage, but Steve had somehow been able to reach the woman underneath the surface.

Natasha knew that Steve had the strongest intestinal fortitude of any man she had ever known in her life, but in this moment, it pleased her heart that he might need her just a little. No one had ever needed the woman. The company had needed her skills, the world had needed her to fight, and her teams had needed her partnership. It was nice to be wanted just for who she was instead of what she could do.

Only Steve ...

Holding him close with her cheek pressed against his forehead, Natasha slipped unconscious into the quiet comfort of their togetherness.

* * *

The light of dawn hadn't yet broken through on the horizon over the island, the chill of the night still lingered heavily in the clear air. Gusts of wind were still drawing eerie noises from the atmosphere as it wound around corners and crevices. The lower tunnels and catacombs seemed even more dark than earlier in the night.

The soldier opened his eyes, but he didn't move. His war senses were on full alert, and he took in the surroundings of their bedroom carefully. He was razor sharp.

They weren't alone. Someone was in the room with them. The makeshift door hadn't been moved, but it had been infiltrated.

However, an unusual calm fell over his being. He and Natasha were safe. He could feel it on an inner level which he couldn't verbalize. He didn't reach for his shield by his hand.

A low heavy intake of breath let Steve know that his partner was conscious and with him. She too had perceived the presence in the room with them. He noticed that as he hadn't reached for his shield, she also had yet to make a move toward her gun beside her.

Steve's keen tactical perception was able to pinpoint the location of the disturbance. There was the slightest displacement of air off to their right side, near the doorway. Someone was there.

A gentle breeze suddenly moved through the bedroom.

So did the soldier.

In one smooth and completely silent motion, Steve lifted Natasha, draping her around his hip as he stood tall.

A dim light, barely visible in the illumination of the burning fire, disappeared through the sliding barrier Steve had used as a door.

The spy didn't waste any time rubbing her hand along the soldier's forearm to get his attention, already knowing that he would forget to put her down again. It seemed as if he too was perfectly content with how right she felt in his arms. He turned to stare down at her with a blank yet questioning expression.

The spy let her eyes flash down at the ground over which her toes were hovering, and after he followed her glance down below her, he quickly put her down.

Then, Steve turned back toward the door and slowly started to stride toward it. Natasha followed him for a moment, but then her world senses took over, and she remembered to reach back and pick up her guns to strap them on. Just as Steve pushed the makeshift door aside, Natasha lifted his shield and handed it to him.

Side by side, the two of them walked out of their bedroom and out into the open city. There was no sign of any amiss around them. With his senses and intuition in high gear, the super soldier stepped off toward their right and began to walk toward a long staircase leading up to a second floor balcony area overlooking the city.

"Steve?" Natasha called warily.

"There's a slight warmth over, I think," he said firmly. "I can only just barely feel it, but I know it's there."

Convinced that he was on to something by the certainty in his voice, the spy followed after him. He had said that there was a warmth to this entity, and her sharp mind noted that this was an opposite contrast to the coldness of the shadow which had assaulted them. Still, she hoped this wasn't some kind of a trap.

Reaching the highest landing of the staircase, the soldier abruptly halted. His shield raised slightly, but after a moment stayed lowered by his side. Natasha was beside him in an instant. Standing close, the two of them gazed down at the striking sight before them.

At the edge of the large spacious balcony lay two recently skeletonized remains, positioned near the center and beside the best vantage for looking out over the city. There was debris strewn around about them, as if a heated struggle … or passionate tryst … had taken place just prior to their demise. Although both were devoid of clothing, some particular elements could be discerned, evidence that whatever had occurred here had not happened a very long time ago.

One of the corpses was a man … with blonde hair. The other was a woman … with red hair. In death, the two of them had reached out to one another. They were holding hands.

In his last moments, the man had written a final message on the ground:

"4:9 12"

Their island adventure had become deeper mystery.


	8. Chapter 8

In the underground caverns of the island, the strong chill of the morning hung heavy in the air. There was a warm dampness in the atmosphere, and the clash of climates caused a cloudy haze to slowly swirl around everything. Even the deeper tunnels themselves seemed to have taken on a sense of mystery.

Staring at the sight in front of them, Steve and Natasha began to make a slow evaluation of the scene.

Walking toward where the two bodies lay, Natasha kneeled down and carefully analyzed what had happened. Her years of skilled perceptions in countless battlefield examinations and assassinations immediately kicked into high gear. With eyes clear and focused, she slowly looked all around them.

"Murder or suicide?" asked Steve, making his way over near her, careful to not disturb the area.

"They killed each other. See this blood trail here?" she said as her finger pointed to a slight line of pinkish red leading back past his feet. "He was already wounded when they came up here. This is just where their final moment happened."

"There's something here," The Captain said as he stepped over toward her other side.

The spy stood up to follow him and reached his side as he picked up a camera off of a small raised pedestal. He handed it to her and took a protective look around them as he held his shield by his side at the ready, ever the vigilant soldier.

Steve took notice of the fact that Natasha had walked over to stand inside his personal space. For a woman that was adept at keeping her distance, he was very pleased at the closeness near him with which she had become comfortable. He leaned down even closer to her.

Suddenly, the sound of a woman's jubilant voice began to filter through the speakers of the small camera.

'Stop! Stop! Stop it, Dale!' she yelped playfully.

As the tiny screen flickered to life, a lovely young woman's face filled the screen. There was a joyful light in her eyes as her long dull red hair fell lazily over her cheeks. Her fingers intermittently passed over the screen as she adjusted it to record her.

'I'm not doing anything,' a heavy voice resounded off screen from beside her as a man's arm swung over to lovingly wrap around her shoulders.

'I'm recording now,' she chastised him with a wide smile.

'Record away,' the man responded, his face now coming onto the screen as he leaned over and quickly started to kiss and suckle along her neck.

'Dale!' she laughed loudly.

'What?' he feigned ignorance as he stopped to stare at her.

Turning to face him, the woman kissed him. It was obviously an attempt to placate their desire for each other, but as one of her hands came up to cup his chin, it was clear that this contact was on the verge of igniting brightly burning flames of passion between them. After the chaste contact had turned into a long embrace, she hurriedly pushed him off of her and off screen.

'This is Doctor Kate Wilkerson,' she began to speak into the camera. 'We have been planning to resume this video diary for months, ever since we mysteriously arrived on this island. My partner is ...'

'Lover!' his voice yelled playfully from off screen.

'Can we try to be professional again here, please?' she turned to chastise him playfully. 'We used to be that once, you know? Do you remember? When we were just two doctors working on our projects?'

'Never going back to that!' he said loudly.

'My partner,' Kate began again with emphasis, barely able to contain the beaming smile his humor brought to her. 'My partner is Doctor Dale Caldwell, one of the world's leading scientists in environmental study. This is our third week here on the island, and our previous messages can be found on our hard drive in outpost two. If you find this one on the camera, then we just haven't uploaded it yet. We were probably ... too busy ... doing other things."

'I like the other things!' Dale yelled from far away.

'Dale! Come here!' Kate suddenly called loudly.

'On my way,' his voice responded.

'Okay,' she continued. 'Well, we finally figured out that whatever they want us to find is probably somewhere down here. We've done a little exploring so far, but we're really only just getting started in this area. We ...'

'You called?' Dale said as his arm possessively slipped around her collar in the frame.

'You were just too far away from me,' she whispered dearly.

'Still not close enough,' his voice responded hungrily.

His face was suddenly in frame, sensuously suckling on her neck and starting to move lower. There was no protesting from her this time, and her eyes quickly rolled into the back of her head lost in the sweetest ecstasy. Regaining herself for just a moment, she hurriedly sat back up and reached her hand toward the camera. The recording ended.

Natasha looked up at Steve with the cutest grin, hidden thoughts of the two of them slipping through her mind. Finding himself very uncomfortable, Steve raised a hand to rub the back of his head as he grinned down at her in return, with similar thoughts of them running through his mind as well. That couple had been immensely happy with each other. Both of them felt as if they had been shown a joy and ... perhaps a love ... they too could be experiencing here on the island.

These thoughts were a little too much for them to handle at the moment.

"Well, we know what happened to them," Steve said sadly.

"The shadows got to them," Natasha said thoughtfully. "They killed each other."

"We passed that test already," he reminded her.

Natasha didn't respond and turned away from him. He had passed the test. She had failed.

"Let's find out what we can from their living quarters," Natasha said with the coldness of the spy. "I'll track them. You cover me."

Her hard tone brooked no refusal and left no room for discussion. She didn't even glance behind her as she began to make her way back down the staircase. The soldier followed behind her with his brow furrowed in concern.

Steve decided not to argue. He didn't want to make things worse for her than she already felt. She had not forgiven herself for trying to kill him.

However, he had a feeling that they may be walking into dangerous territory.

His brilliant tactical mind kept thinking of one of the most basic rules of combat.

Divide and conquer.

 

* * *

The underground city had once been a marvel of beauty. Highly reflective rocks which the civilization had once cut out of the small subterranean mountains and used to construct their ornate abode almost sparkled with the new light from the surface. The cloudy atmospheric haze which hung over everything had dissipated somewhat, but the air still seemed to have a slight constant glow within it.

Natasha led the way as the two of them slowly walked through the debris of the old city. Her keen tracking skills were able to catch the slightest traces of the brownish drops of dried blood which were spattered along the ground. Sometimes she would kneel down and survey the area in front of them, not locating a visible trace of blood but still finding elements of debris which had been disturbed. The master spy deftly tracked the path of the two recent occupants.

Walking behind her, the soldier stayed in the cover position, keeping a close watch on their surroundings as she stayed focused on her task. Although he could discern nothing amiss around them, a feeling of uneasiness began to creep over him. His senses were on high alert.

"This area has been recently used a lot," Natasha said as they neared a quaint clearing on the edge of a small alleyway between structures.

Looking around, it was obvious that this was a particularly scenic location. There was a thin gently flowing river of running water streaming through the city just a few feet away, a little less debris strewn about over the area, and there was a single structure slightly taller than the others which at one time may have been a lookout post. Its vantage point allowed for a beautiful view over the landscape of the entire city.

"Up there?" queried Steve.

"That's where they were," confirmed Natasha.

"Let's go have a look."

There were two thin staircases on either side of the two story tower, leading directly to two small doors. The side rails on both of them lay in states of broken disrepair, and there was a slight element of danger to their appearance. Just as the couple started to make their way toward the left side stairs, the temperature of the entire environment began to decrease noticeably.

Steve followed close behind Natasha for a short time, but when his footsteps stopped abruptly, she did the same.

“We’ve got company,” the soldier whispered direly.

“I don’t spot anything,” Natasha told him, glancing around them slightly, her subversion skills in no way belying how intently she had just surveyed their surroundings. “How many are they?”

Steve paused. He gazed around the entire area carefully. Their situation was grave.

"Legion,” he said intensely.

All around them, slowly emerging from the darkness of the shadows, were several of the dark entities. They were only barely discernible in the dim light of the underground caverns, but their motion allowed them to be slightly more visible. The entities were positioned on the rooftops, alleyways and lower areas surrounding the watch tower. After approaching just enough to make their presence known, all of them stopped moving and held eerily still.

"They're watching us," observed Natasha. "They want to see if we find what they're looking for. We must be close."

"They not making a move on us because they don't want to start another earthquake," said Steve. "The entities in the tidal wave showed up to help us. I'm taking a deductive leap here, but everything makes sense. We're not down here by accident or coincidence. In addition to protecting us, that current lead us right down here to this city. That recording said that couple had been led on a search to find something. They didn't make it past the influence of the dark entities, but we did. That search has now been entrusted to us. I believe the light is still watching over us, and the darkness knows it. We should be safe for now."

"So, you think that couples have brought here to the island to continue this search when other failed?"

"Probably among other things. I think there are purposes behind all this. We've been dropped into the middle of an unseen war. Right now, our current mission seems to be to locate whatever the doctors were trying to find down here."

"Let's get inside," said Natasha, unintentionally allowing unusual vulnerability and uncertainty to slip through her calm facade.

At a quick but steady pace, the two of them made their way up the left side staircase and into the tower. Closing the door behind them, Steve stood looking over the room as Natasha started to walk through it. The inside of the space was more warm than the outside air.

The cozy room was in shambles. There was a large cot placed in its center, and there were also two small separate living places on opposite sides. There were personal belongings and other materials strewn all over the floor haphazardly.

"Did they attack each other in here, too?" the soldier asked as he surveyed the scene.

"Well, yeah," Natasha grinned with a wry smile and her trademark raised eyebrow as she turned to squarely face him. "Just not the kind of attack you're thinking about."

Steve turned from looking over the room to return her gaze. It took him a short moment of staring into her humorously gleaming eyes before realization dawned on him. He watched her smug face break into a full smile as he got it.

"Oh! Oh," he said quickly. "I get the reference now. I get it."

"Still a little slow, fossil?" the snarky spy teased.

“I thought they were fighting,” the soldier elaborated defensively. “How can you tell the difference?”

“Everything laying around is mostly knocked over, but not broken. They were just enthusiastic in their ... work," she grinned with her trademark raised eyebrow as she smirked up at him.

"Work?" laughed Steve as he turned from looking around the room to stare down at her.

Their eyes met. Their humor had left them both open. Staring into each other's depths, their smiles slowly faded, but the mutual gleam in their eyes remained. An unspoken longing for more intimate connection between them lingered heavily.

The small distant sound of rocks falling outside the bedroom interrupted their moment. Both of them walked over to the open window space on the longest wall. The overlook provided a view of the entire city below them.

The shadow entities could barely be seen in the dark edges of the city, but they seemed to be closer to the tower now.

Surveying the scene, Steve immediately realized that there didn't seem to be any natural disturbance from the small rocky mountains throughout the city. The timing of the sound make his mind vaguely wonder if perhaps ... something was trying to keep the two of them apart.

Standing beside him, looking over the same landscape, Natasha's mind moved in a completely opposite direction.

She had to get away from Steve. This one thought overshadowed everything else inside her. If just one of these entities got to her, there was a possibility that she might try to hurt him again. Natasha absolutely refused to let this happen a second time.

She would die first.

Natasha knew that Steve wouldn't want to let her go. Still, she knew that it was imperative for her to push him away. His safety was paramount to her, even it meant that they had to separate.

"We'll split up," she said as she continued staring out at the city. "That way we can cover more ground. After we find whatever these entities are looking for, we can reconnect on the surface."

"I'm not sure that's a good idea," Steve said with a furrowed brow. "We don't need to separate right now. I think ..."

"We don't always need to be together, Steve," Natasha cut him off with a firm edge intentionally in her voice. "You go your way this time. I'll go mine."

"Nat, tactically we are more protected when we ..."

"I'll meet you on the surface," Natasha said as she started to step past him.

"Wait a minute, Nat," he said quickly.

Steve reached out to take a firm grip on her upper arm. He held her steady as he stared down at her and she looked up at him in incredulous surprise. It was a moment almost exactly like the one they had found themselves in on the Lemurian Star.

"What do you think this is, Rogers?" The Black Widow said sternly. "Understand something. You took advantage of the situation," she lied coldly. "Don't think this is something that it isn't."

Steve stared down at Natasha for a long moment, then he let his hand fall from her arm. She didn't look back at him as she walked away. Against his better judgement, the soldier turned around to head in the opposite direction.

He heard the door open and close behind him.

And, just like that, he had lost her. In truth, he had never had her. It was obvious now that he had misunderstood her actions over the last few days. He supposed that he would never know a bloody thing about women, and he simply wouldn't accept the casual sex morality of this new world. Steve had accepted his feelings for Natasha, but she had probably never really reciprocated his affection. Both of them had only been caught up in these moments between them over the last few days.

Placing his hand on the outer door on the other side of the room, Steve paused. Suddenly, his tactical mind kicked into high gear. He wondered if he could have possibly let his feelings get in the way of the truth. Despite all her lies and murders, he still chose to believe the best of the spy, and he felt that there was a line of integrity inside her which she would not cross. She had no reason to be dishonest with him since they had been alone on this island, and he found it hard to believe that the affections between them hadn't been ... real.

Always brilliant, he turned the situation over and over in his thoughts. Reversing his considerations, he wondered how the spy might react in their current situation if she did indeed have feelings for him. But, there would be no reason for them to separate if she cared for him. Steve was confident that he had shown Natasha that she could trust him. The only reason she would make them part would be ... if she didn't trust herself.

Turning in a flash, Steve rushed out the door behind Natasha.

He would be too late.

 

* * *

Seconds earlier, the atmosphere of the environment outside the abode had dropped several degrees.

The Black Widow's keen senses noticed the change immediately. Instinctively, she knew that immense danger was near. As she began to quickly make her way down the stairs, her eyes could catch slight glimpses of the movement of the shadows near her.

They were closing in. The entities were materializing only a short distance from the staircase. They were surrounding her.

Preparing for an acrobatic leap to clear some distance, Natasha braced her foot on the edge of the second landing. In less than a second, the stable rock beneath her toes seemed to dissolve into soft sand. Her eyes focused with a furrowed brow as she tried to steady herself for her next move.

The entire staircase beneath her seemed to begin to dissolve.

All of her senses were on high alert. The spy felt a darkness around her unlike any she had ever known before. Something sinister was upon her.

Behind her, Steve opened the staircase door. His eyes widened in terror. The dark entities were moving in force. Not like before on the surface when they were clearly moving in to attack, but this time they were floating closer, hovering near Natasha.

They were orchestrating the events unfolding before his eyes.

Natasha heard the tower door above her open. She turned back to look up at Steve. Their eyes locked intensely.

Then, in a single, terrible moment, the ground underneath Natasha’s feet was sinking sand. The cavern floor below the entire staircase suddenly gave way, and all of the small area crumbled. A powerful rumbling arose with the collapse, sending sudden earth shattering tremors reverberating throughout the space.

Without a moment’s hesitation, Steve dove forward. He landed on the edge of the collapsing area, slamming his shield down and digging it into the barely stable ground as his right hand reached desperately for Natasha.

“Natasha!” he hollered loudly.

“I’m here,” came her quick response. “Don’t move, Steve. No matter what. Don’t move.”

Steve immediately heard the distress in her voice. He was thankful that she hadn’t fallen a long distance and she wasn’t very far from him. His eyes narrowed to try to find her in the darkness below him.

“Natasha?” he called again.

She didn’t answer. Something was desperately wrong. As his super soldier vision focused, he understood.

Steve’s blood ran cold. He felt as if his body had become encased in ice more freezing than any he had experienced before. His heart stopped beating.

Natasha was lying on the ground fifty feet below him. There was a dark shadow covering her entire body which seemed to be moving. There were small forms inside the darkness, which was why it seemed to be in motion. Small red symbols could be seen on the forms, making the motion seem eerie and frightening. As Steve realized what they were, a warm wetness welled inside his eyes.

The irony was not lost on him.

Natasha was lying on the ground … covered in black widow spiders.

There seemed to be dozens of them, and they were slightly larger than the normal breed of the species, perhaps some unknown prehistoric breed which had not attained the level of evolution of the more common lineage. They moved only slightly, as most of them seemed to be holding still, almost in anticipation of something. Their very appearance seemed deadly.

“A little ironic for me to end this way,” she whispered to him, her dark humor not failing her even in this most dire of moments.

“I’m coming to get you,” he whispered back, far beyond feigning any sort of banter between them.

Before he could move, a large shadow, somehow darker than any of the others she had glimpsed, suddenly loomed ominously over his shoulder.  

“Watch out, Steve!” Natasha yelled.

Her scream caused the reaction.

The black widow spiders bit … all at once.

Her body was instantly flooded with poison.

“Natasha!” hollered Steve, watching her body tense in agony, her mouth hanging open as her face became a mask of excruciating pain.

With blinding speed, Steve launched himself into a downward lunge, rocketing toward her. In a second, he slammed his vibranium shield down onto the ground as he landed next to Natasha. The concussive shock wave which exploded outward from his impact blew the creatures off of Natasha and sent them flying through the cavern. The power lifted her body up off the ground. Reaching up with lightning quickness, the super soldier snatched her body out of the air and drew her in to cradle her protectively tight against him. All of the remaining spiders scurried away from them.

Their evil work complete, the shadow entities silently faded away.

Now left alone for their final moment, Steve stared down at Natasha as she stared up at him. She couldn’t move, and just opening her lips seemed to be a strain. There were green lines appearing all over her body, similar to inflamed varicose veins, as the stress almost looked as if it were going to break through her tender skin. She didn’t have long to live.

With strained eyes, Natasha forced words out of her throat.

"Steve, file ... in Kiev ... my personal failsafe. It has secrets ... on every agency ... in case i ever had to blackmail ... my way out of trouble. You ... must get it. I ... named it after you because ... you're the only one ...i ever completely trusted. P. O. Box under name ... Ana ... Anastasia ... Sarah ... Rogers."

"None of that," Steve was barely able to force out. "None of that matters now, Natasha," he whispered. "Only you. You're all that matters now. Only you."

Natasha's eyes softened. Here, in her last moment, this man had just said the most beautiful words that the spy had ever heard. At least, taking her last breath, she could die knowing that someone cared about the woman more than the spy. This single thing was more than she had ever hoped for in life.

But, she hadn't been successful in her mission.

"I failed, Steve. All ... the red ... in my ledger. I never ... made up for it."

"Natasha, we talked before," he whispered brokenly. "Do you accept the forgiveness of Christ Jesus as your Lord and Saviour?" he asked tenderly.

"I do," she answered in a quiet whisper.

Both of them thought of these words used in the marriage of a man and woman, and their hearts opened even more deeply for one another.

"Mission complete," Steve said as a single tear slipped from his eye. "Mission complete."

"Steve," Natasha called quietly as she struggled to raise a hand up to his cheek. "If ... If i could have ... loved ... it would have been y ... "

Her hand started to fall from his cheek. He caught it, refusing to let it fall to the ground.  Everything was still and silent.

There was no sound. There was no movement. There was no air.

She was gone.

Lowering his head, the weary soldier didn't shed another tear. He had been beside countless men as they had died in battle, he had reached for friends as they had been lost in front of his eyes, he had sat at the bedside of those he cared for as they had slipped into eternity ... and nothing had ever hurt like this.

Perhaps it was the accumulation of all the pain and suffering of his years, perhaps it was that this had happened in the most glorious place he had ever seen, or perhaps it was that he and this woman had been on the verge of experiencing something truly beautiful together.

The pain hurt too deeply for him to cry.

Lowering his head, Steve closed his eyes and began to pray.

The silence in the darkness lingered heavily.

Suddenly, Steve felt a soft gentle warm caress on the side of his face.

Opening his eyes, he looked up into the darkness, and caught sight of a thin barely visible light just off in the distance on the right. Lowering his head once again and laying his cheek beside her own, Steve didn't move as he continued praying.

Then, the message which had been scrawled on the ground was brought back to his mind.

'4:9 12'

The numbers kept rolling over in his mind. Then, he remembered Natasha finding the King James 1611 Bible left in the first outpost. Verses began to scroll through his perfect memory over and over, until particular verses came to him which matched the numbers and his situation.

'Two are better than one; because they have good reward for their labour. For if they fall, the one will lift up his fellow: but woe to him that is alone when he falleth; for he hath not another to help him up. Again, if two lie together, then they have heat: but how can one be warm alone? And if one prevail against him, two shall withstand him; and a threefold cord is not quickly broken.'

Steve knew the verses from the book of Ecclesiastes. He now understood the message which had been left. Somehow, these verses gave him hope.

In his soul ... the words ... somehow drew him to the light.

For reasons beyond his comprehension, Steve stood to his feet humbly, carrying the lifeless Natasha in his arms. He walked over to the edge of a small tunnel opening on the right side, where the semblance of light seemed to be dimly shining in the darkness. Up ahead of him, a dark tunnel loomed quietly. Yet, again off to the right side of the cavern, another dim light was visible, almost gently beckoning him to come to it. Reaching the light, he turned into it to find another slightly spacious cavern.

Off on the right side of the rubble strewn space was a small river of water. The stream flowed out of the rock surrounding the area and then disappeared back into it on the other side of the room. It appeared to be normal, except for the slightly luminous sparkle of its surface.

He stopped to stare at the water, slightly mesmerized by its gentle glow. He didn't know what to do now, and the verses returned to his mind. He thought of the threefold cord. He and Natasha were not alone here. He believed that a higher power had led them to this place. They were meant to be here.

His mind was barely functioning, but he felt drawn to the water. Something deep inside his chest, his heart, his soul, drew him toward it. As broken as he was by the death of Natasha, Steve didn't resist it.

Walking over to its edge, Steve paused for another moment before he stepped down into it carrying Natasha in his arms. The shallow water quickly enveloped both of them, and Steve held his breath for a short moment as he walked along the bottom surface of the gently flowing river before he stepped back up the short hill on the other side of it. After a long moment, they broke the surface of the water and Steve walked up onto the shore.

Dropping to his knees, Steve stared down at Natasha. The moment held and lingered. There was no change. Lowering his head again, Steve once again closed his eyes and began to pray.

With his eyes closed, he didn't see the wounds on her body suddenly starting to quickly heal. The green veins which had been protruding all over her tender skin began to recede, and her natural color overtook the pale grey hue which had fallen over her. Even the open sores from the bites closed completely, leaving no visible scars.

Still in prayer, Steve noticed that air moved near him. His brow furrowed, but he didn't open his eyes, hoping beyond hope. The air moved again. This time, he was certain of what it was.

An intake of breath.

Steve opened his eyes.

Natasha was breathing.

She was back.

Tears welled in his eyes.

Her breath was barely there, low and shallow. She was alive. Moving very slowly, Steve leaned down and pressed his lips against her own. Drawing away to give her more air, he gazed down at her with desperate hope in his eyes.

Natasha opened hers, slowly, and then stared up him. She appeared slightly incoherent, but as she focused on him, she seemed to return. Reaching her hands up, she slowly drew her arms around his neck and pulled him down to hold him. Leaning back from one another, both of them started to open their mouths simultaneously.

At that moment, the ground began to shake beneath the two of them violently.

Rocks and large debris started to fall from the unstable ceiling. A massive haze of dust and dirt rose quickly, covering the area in a cloudy haze. It suddenly became hard to see in the cavern.

Pulling Natasha tight against him protectively, Steve looked around at the danger surrounding them. The shadow entities were materializing in mass behind them, and his eyes widened in terror. Then, he turned as he took notice of an increasing light growing in front of them. A large white cloud was also flowing into the cavern at the same time. The beings of light were again coming to their rescue.

Glancing behind them again, Steve noticed that the dark entities were quickly crowding around the glowing river. By divine providence, it seemed that they had been led to this moment. He immediately deduced that this ... river of life ... was what this entire search had been about.

From the reactions of the entities, Steve understood that this had been what they had been looking for. This resurrection water must have some purpose for the beings. Its location had been hidden, but now he and Natasha had been led to reveal it.

Steve knew that he had to get Natasha out of the cavern. He knew that, as on the surface, the war between the light and the darkness could tear the elements of the island apart. He had to get her to safety.

"Hold on!" he yelled above the noise of the catastrophe around them.

"Oh, boy," she said as she buried her head in his shoulder and held onto him.

Standing quickly, Steve ran through the cloud of light and into the tunnels with Natasha in his arms. The rocky ceiling began to crumble behind them immediately, dropping tons of ground literally inches behind his heels. His super soldier speed carried the two of them through the caverns at a rate he had never before attained in his life. Clearing a little distance from the collapse behind them, Steve ran up onto a precipice and looked around.

"The whole city is going to be buried," said Steve. "We've got to get back up to the surface."

"The water is the way," Natasha said as she clung nestled in his arms.

Steve followed her eyes over to a stream of water off to their side. It had been gently flowing before, but the environmental disruption had forced it to turn into a rushing torrent. Without another moment of hesitation, Steve ran over to the edge of the precipice and jumped.

Hugging each other as closely as they possibly could, the two of them crashed into the flowing water.

 

* * *

A short time later, the torrid waves of the ocean continued crashing violently against the shore of the island. The heat of the bright sun was beaming down hard, actually causing atmospheric distortion in its veracity. The clouds of the sky were rushing by overhead.

Just only a mile off the shore, a massive whirlpool had mysteriously formed. Although the swirling current seemed to have been part of the collapse and destruction, it also drew dangerous debris out into the ocean and away from the shoreline. It was a magnificent sight.

Some distance from the shore, Steve surfaced over the waves. Still holding Natasha close, he began to swim strongly to safety. As Natasha regained herself, she started to use her arms to stroke with him, moving with a firm stride. He was surprised at her strength, as he had thought she would be much more weak after her resurrection.

Still, as he stood up along the reef, he slipped his arms under her legs and back to again cradle her against him. Reaching the shore, he placed her down on the sand to rest and then walked a few feet away to make sure that the roiling ocean wouldn't encroach upon them. Steve watched intensely as part of the north section of the island, where they had just been underground, broke apart and washed out to sea. Despite the ocean being unsettled, the waters were slowly starting to ease and calm. He stood vigilant.

As Steve stood off on the shore, Natasha watched him closely. She sat up comfortably and calmly wrapped her arms around her legs, never taking her eyes off of him. She waited patiently.

When Steve turned around to gaze at her, Natasha immediately stood to her feet. As he started to walk toward her, she began to step to him quickly. Her stride was focused and sure, as if there was a new certainty from within her.

She felt new. She felt clean. She felt ... free.

As Natasha reached him, Steve held out his arms to take her in a strong hug. Instead of meeting his extended embrace, Natasha slipped past him arms to press herself firmly against him as she squeezed her arms around his neck. She kissed him firmly, passionately, hungrily. He was surprised, and stumbled a little at her firmness, but he quickly responded by wrapping his arms around her slim waist to hold her against him.

Moving with purpose, Natasha pushed Steve backward and off balance. He fell backward onto the soft sand of the warm beach, and she landed on top of him, never letting their lips part even for a moment. Settling into a comfortable position, she finally paused to lean back from him.

The two of them gazed into each other's eyes. There were no more barriers between them now. Keeping one hand on the small of her back, Steve raised his other hand to smooth some locks of hair gently flowing in the strong winds out of her eyes. Holding one hand on the center of his broad chest, Natasha raised her other slender fingers to caress his cheek. No words were needed.

Completely open for the first time, Natasha leaned down to sweetly kiss Steve. There would be no stopping them this time. Here on the island, the two of them had all the time in the world.

Around them, the nature of the environment seemed to begin to settle into a peaceful rejoicing. The waters of the shore which should have been torrential quickly abated into gentle waves that continually bathed the two lovers in their warmth. The view from the heavens high above the island showed the ocean itself seeming to curve into the semblance of a smile of joy.

 


	9. Chapter 9

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Dear readers, please be advised. The first half of this chapter contains strong sensual content. Please skip down to the second half of the chapter if you feel there is a possibility you may be offended in any way, which is denoted by a section break line.

There was a new joy in the spirit of the island. The entire land was at peace. Early morning sun rays were only just barely starting to shine over the horizon.

Over the expanse of the region on the eastern side, another small installation with a three story central tower rested on the shoreline. It almost appeared as a beacon to any lost on the sea, much like a welcoming rescue lighthouse. It now housed two particular new occupants.

Floating in a beautiful flower filled atrium on the top floor of the lighthouse which housed a crystal blue sky dome, Natasha slowly began to awaken. With Steven Grant Rogers, Natasha found that she had experienced many first times in her life, but this was truly one of the most memorable.

She woke up ... with a soft genuine smile on her face.

The previous day with Steve had been perhaps the best day of her life.

Her hazy waking mind enjoyed recalling yesterday's events...

After feeling more free than she had ever before in her entire life, she had finally taken Steve into her arms as she had always wanted to, but had been held back from doing so. Falling on top of him, she had found a blazing fire in the depths of her dead heart for him, and she had chosen to embrace it. Responding to her with vehement desire, Steve had released his own long restrained passion, no longer holding back the strength of what he felt for her.

They had made love for the first time right there where they lay on the soft sandy beach, with the warm waves of water continually cleansing their bodies as they gently washed over them. Both of them had wanted to savor and extend this initial outburst of intimacy between them, but the flames of long restrained desire had simply burned far too brightly. They had both released almost as soon as they had started, and their mutual climax together had been glorious.

After kissing for some time on the shore in a long loving afterglow, Steve had picked Natasha up and carried her toward a second outpost structure they could see just a short way off in the distance. After securing the installation interior, the two of them had quickly fallen back into each other's arms.

Making their way up to the top level of the installation, they had found this lovely atrium which served as a self sustaining supply of nourishment similar to a greenhouse. The setting, the locale, and the moment had just seemed beyond perfect for them.

They had quickly become completely lost in one another, and stayed that way for over a day.

For Natasha, it had almost seemed to have been an assault on her mind, body and spirit, which, when she lost the battle, in truth she actually won it. When she had laid him on the soft white bed and joined them for the second time, he had penetrated more deeply inside her body than she had even thought humanly possible. He reached depths within her which had never ever before been touched. She lost all ability to discern where she ended and he began. They had truly become one with each other.

As an agent, The Black Widow had always admired The Captain's brilliant tactical mind and his near perfect memory. Comically, the woman Natalia now appreciated his attributes on an entirely new level. From the first moment they had joined, it seemed as if Steve had committed to memory every place to touch on her physique which stirred her senses, and he had quickly learned how to play her body like a musical instrument. The tactician not only found new pleasure spots on her skin which she had never even known existed, but his brilliance catalogued just the exact right amount of pressure to tease, tantalize or electrify her at his command. The man was already absolutely exquisite, and he became even better with every moment he touched her.

His super soldier body seemed to have been perfectly designed to excessively stimulate the female physique. His extremely impressive manliness absolutely electrified the inside of her body, touching so many sensitive pleasure points that it was beyond measure. Natasha had never imagined that a body could even experience or survive being in such a constant and continuous state of climax like this.

Coupled with his endowments, his stamina seemed as if it may have been designed to please a woman until she expired from pure passion. As she had always peaked several times before he allowed himself to release, she was pleasantly surprised to find that he was always ready to continue with virtually minimal recuperation time. Without her serum, she was almost certain that she wouldn't have been able to handle him.

Over the last twenty four hours, he had literally spent more time inside her body than out of it. His libido never seemed to fully decrease, so even when they passed out in near exhaustion or dozed in momentarily sated euphoria, he remained buried within her. Awakening still deeply joined with him was the most disarming feeling she had ever felt, and he would lovingly caress her, letting her feel all his adoration and caring. Being with her before she could raise her defenses opened her heart to him even more, and she was unable to resist the strength of his passion.

At times, when she had thought that perhaps she couldn't take anymore, he would only slow down, gently soothe her for a short while, and then drive her to new even more exasperating heights. Sometimes, it was all she could do to barely keep her arms around his neck as she scratched her nails into his shoulders in unbelievable ecstasy as he ravished her. She would release almost continually with every muscle in her body clenching and trembling without end. She would hear heated words whispered in Russian, and it took her a long time to realize that they were slipping from her own lips. In bed, the soldier was more ruthless in pleasuring her than most of her foes had been in trying to dispatch her. Natasha wasn't sure if she had lost consciousness a few times or not. Being with Steve had been akin to an endless seizure of pleasure, a mind blowing blur of bliss.

Natasha hadn't known that Steve would be so ... affectionate. He always held her in his arms so lovingly. He never let go of her. They moved together in nearly every way imaginable. With his immense size and girth coupled with her extreme flexibility and dexterity, the positions they found were absolutely exquisite. And through it all ... he never stopped kissing her.

His lips always bored insistently against her own, driving her to absolute distraction. While he may not have been a superbly skilled kisser, his intensity tore apart her heart as she could feel not only his desire but his ... love ... for her. She wasn't ready to admit whether or not tears had sometimes slipped from her eyes.

The intensity of his affection opened her heart more deeply than his body opened her depths. It had felt as if he was reaching inside of her, bringing to life dead feelings which she hadn't even known had resided within her. As he was driving her body to heights of pleasure far beyond her physical limits, he was simultaneously showing her what it was to be adored, cherished and treasured.

Before yesterday, she had thought herself frigid, never having been able to reach a peak with another person. With Steve, she hadn't been able to stop. It had been absolutely impossible to keep track of the multiple times her body had exploded, many times with one often flowing directly into another. It was as if her body had instantly betrayed her, siding with Steve to conquer any resistance she may have put up against the unbridled pleasure he lavished on her.

No, she wasn't a frigid woman. Steve had proven that to her. Her heart wasn't dead. She was alive. She could feel. She could ... love.

Natasha completely lost herself in Steve.

In this present moment, these new memories were the very reason it took her a second to realize that she wasn't actually floating. Her body was in the air, and she was moving, but there was someone with her.

Steve was carrying her again.

"Good morning," the deep bass of his voice rumbled sexily through her body as she lay cradled against him.

He was walking around the flowers and planted areas of the beautiful atrium, with only a white towel tied around his waist. His arms were holding her curled against his torso, drawing all her slight weight onto his bare chest, almost folding her onto him. She was covered by one of the sheets taken from their bed, with it having been slipped just over her breasts and reaching down to the tops of her thighs. As he moved, the super soldier carried her body for added weight as he always sought to increase the exercise of his super soldier body.

Staring down at her as she opened her beautiful eyes in the glowing of the morning light, Steve became lost in her crystal green depths. He saw a new gleam residing within them.

A gentle smile graced his face as he remembered the events of yesterday...

Ever since he had been awakened from the ice some years ago, Steve Rogers had been a lonely man. When Natasha had died in his arms, he had felt more alone than ever before. He had never been more thankful for anything else in his life than her resurrection. Her being alive now was a miracle.

After yesterday, he no longer felt alone in life.

They had bonded physically, mentally and spiritually on a level deeper than any he had ever known. He had always been attracted to Natasha, but when they had finally opened themselves to accept their feelings, the love which had blossomed had far surpassed anything he had expected.

When she had fallen into his arms on the beach, he had sensed the change in her, and he immediately knew that she was ready to face the truth between them. The moment she had finally joined their bodies together, the one thing he knew with certainty, was that he would never ever be able to get enough of her.

After they had secured the new installation, Steve hadn't been able to keep his hands off of Natasha. Noticing the skydome of the atrium from the schematic of the outpost, he had been surprised to find a large bed already situated on its north wall. He had immediately carried her over to it.

Once they had opened the door of their intimacy, he instantly desired her more than he needed his next breath. The soldier hadn't at all known how much he had been restraining himself until he had been allowed to touch her as he had always wanted. Steve had kissed virtually every inch of her soft skin utilizing all of his tactical precision. When she had responded to him with the fervor of a drowned woman agonizingly gasping for air, she had turned him into a dehydrated man desperately drinking from her as his oasis.

Yesterday, the lovemaking between the two of them had been intense, visceral and shattering. Thinking to himself, he knew that they were now about to begin something even more intimate than what their bodies had shared. This continuous afterglow in which they found themselves basking would reshape them, recast them and renew them. He wanted to see all that they could become together.

He was only drawn out of his reverie of staring into her eyes by the sound of her soft whispered waking voice.

"You still have enough energy for your morning run, Soldier?" Natasha asked sheepishly. "We're going to have to work on that."

"Did you do anything fun yesterday?" Steve asked with a glowing smile.

"I'm not sure," she answered snarkily. "The last thing I remember is being attacked by a dinosaur fossil."

"Okay," Steve nodded trying to feign amusement, and then turned away, somewhat crestfallen.

Natasha stared up at him incredulously. The man had just given a Super Stud of the Century sexual performance, one which would have had any normal man shouting to the mountains about how good he was in bed. However, here stood her Steve still humble, shy and insecure. She inwardly admonished herself. If they were going to continue to move forward, she needed to try to be more honest with him about what he meant to her.

"It's a memory I'll cherish," she added sweetly as she looked up at him with gentle eyes.

"You hungry?" Steve asked with a heartwarming smile as he sat them down in an extended chair beside a scenic edge of the crystal blue dome window.

The handmade chair had been designed for two and outfitted with comfortable leg extensions. He used it as makeshift sofa bed for them as he kept her body draped along his side while they settled into it. Before carrying her around for his morning run, Steve had filled a small table stand with an assortment of the best fruits and vegetables from the various gardens in the atrium for their breakfast. He held a plum out to her as his other hand sensuously rubbed the soft bare skin of her upper back.

"Golodnyy," she answered quickly, reaching forward to swipe the fruit out of his hand and take a deep bite.

Steve's eyes held an intense joy inside them as he watched her. He didn't think she had realized that she had slipped into her native tongue in her response, and he deeply relished the fact she was comfortable enough with him to open up like this. Yesterday, when he had gotten her lost in the throes of ecstasy, she had begun to utter nearly unintelligible words in Russian during some of her most intense moments. He was certain that it was among the most beautiful sounds he had ever heard in his life.

The taste of the sweet fruit juice in her mouth gave Natasha an idea. She looked up at Steve to catch him gazing down at her.

"Lie down," she told him.

"What?" he asked warily, his eyes narrowing uncertainly.

Natasha gave him a sly grin. There was no guile or mirth in her smile, but she laughed to herself at his slight trepidation of her. She was his Natasha, but she was still The Black Widow as well, and she was very accustomed to having men and women shy away from her in fear. However, she now felt somehow more comfortable with herself, and she could take more joy in simply the living of life. Steve was a joy for her, and she could accept that now.

"Lay back," she reiterated, allowing a little wider smile to show through on her mischievous visage.

Enjoying this little show of playfulness from his reserved lady and playing along to try to make her smile more, Steve kept a warily jubilant eye on her as he stretched and leaned low in the chair beside her. Reaching across his bare chest, she grabbed one of the small bushels of grapes which he had picked up on his stroll around the atrium. Laying close against him skin to skin, she held the bushel above his head and gently lowered it to his lips.

With a near beaming smile, Steve took a mouthful and chewed with a gleam in his eye for her. To see that look on his face, Natasha knew inside herself that she would be whatever woman he wanted her to be.

The moment was surreal. They were suddenly the perfect proverbial picture of the king and queen in their beautiful island paradise.

As he chewed, a stream of the sweet juice of the grapes slipped out of his mouth. Glancing at his bottom lip, Natasha started to raise her thumb to wipe it away. She remembered when she had done the same thing when she had cooked for him on their first night in the other outpost.

Her finger stopped as she touched the side of his mouth.

The other day, she hadn't been able to do what she wanted to do.

Things were different between them now. Oh, yes. Very different.

Placing both her hands firmly on his cheeks, Natasha leaned down on Steve and kissed him passionately on his mouth. Her lips insistently pushed inside his own, and her tongue succulently curled inside the back of his throat to lick out the sweet juice. She intended to teasingly pull away and tantalize him, but her sexy gesture had quickly ignited the searing passion between the two of them, and Steve wasn't going to allow her to be coy now.

His muscular arms wrapped strongly around her slim waist, pulling her over to straddle him, making her gasp into his mouth at his intense tenacity. He returned her affection hungrily, kissing her back with fervent desire. A light sheen of sweat had quickly formed all over their heated bodies from just this foreplay contact. Both of them were shocked that it was even possible to still be this hot for one another after the previous day of unrestrained passion they had just shared.

Slipping one hand under her firmly soft feminine derriere which he adored, Steve trailed his other hand up and down her spine as he effortlessly lifted her slim body with one hand. Draping her thighs along his hips, Natasha tangled both her hands in his golden hair as she proceeded to kiss him senseless. Carrying her over to the edge of the bed, Steve slowly laid Natasha down on its edge.

"You're incorrigible, Rogers ...," she whispered passionately.

Leaving her laying on her back, Natasha's eyes followed the line of the towel around him as it slid down lower on his waist. Intending to entice and incite him more, the spy coyly pulled the sheet around her up to cover her collar. Grinning down at her, Steve took her right ankle in his left hand and effortlessly lifted her entire lower body up off the bed underneath her. Never breaking eye contact with her, he slowly began to kiss and suckle his way down, starting on the soft skin of her calf and then moving down toward her heated inner thigh. Raising her higher in the air as he held her leg with one hand, he continued kissing his way into her body.

" ... and insatiable," she finished, her heart starting to pound as she lost her breath.

Natasha held his gaze for as long as she could, until her eyes rolled into the back of her head in ecstasy as her back arched higher and her fingers gripped the bedsheets around her.

"For you," his deep manly voice rumbled against her skin sexily.

* * *

At that moment, a quiet alert began to resound from the speakers within the installation. It was an intermittent ping, very similar to the sound of sonar. Snatching Natasha up off the bed, Steve quickly made his way out of the atrium and headed down the stairway toward the primary observation room.

Raising a hand up toward his cheek, Natasha prepared to get his attention. Then, she stopped. After everything they had shared, she decided that maybe she would just let him carry her around like he seemed destined to do. She could ... probably ... get used to this, she mused to herself.

Reaching the main auditorium, Steve hurried over to the main computer and sat down in the programmer's chair, maneuvering Natasha upright on his thigh so she could reach the keyboard. Her hands became a blur as she keyed in commands. As she typed, various schematic displays began to appear on the large main viewscreen wall.

"It's a signal," she explained. "I thought it might have been a distress call, but it doesn't seem to be on an urgent or emergency frequency. No discernible message. It's just a location transmission."

"What activated it?" asked Steve, unnecessarily keeping his hands on her hips to steady her.

"I can't tell," she elaborated. "It's coming from somewhere deep underground on the far side of the other coast. Closer scans are picking up more info for us right now. Environmental studies are detecting an atmosphere familiar to the computer systems. It looks like a ..."

"A what?"

"A portal .. back to our world."

The two of them stared at the large viewscreen for a long moment. Then, they turned to face each other. They stared deeply into one another's eyes.

It was time to make a decision.

* * *

Some time later, Steve and Natasha stood together on a small precipice, overlooking the glistening ocean with the glorious shining sun off in the distance. The scenery was absolutely breathtaking. In this moment, it almost seemed as if they were able to appreciate it far more, knowing that they may be about to leave it.

"I had expected something like this to happen," the brilliant analyst said solemnly.

"What?" asked Natasha as she looked up at him.

"When I realized there were intelligences behind all of this, I figured that we would be shown the way off the island whenever the time came. We've been given a choice," Steve said quietly. "Our lives are determined by the choices we have made, are making and will make. That's what we're facing now."

"All of us have made some bad choices in our lives," whispered the agent.

"But thank God it's never too late to start making the right ones."

"What about this unseen war going on around us?"

"Maybe we completed our part here," he answered.

"Will we remember any of this ... if we go back?" Natasha asked quietly.

"I don't know," Steve answered with a sad sigh. "We remembered our other lives when we arrived here, so there is hope. However, I do have a strong feeling that we won't. Just a hunch."

"I've had my memories erased before," she said with a dark mirth. "But, this is one that I'd rather like to keep."

"Me, too," he whispered.

"So we'll go back to being ... just partners?"

"How about friends?" he asked with a sad grin.

"Wrong business," she told him.

"Maybe we'll find our way back to each other," he said.

"Ever the optimist?"

"Someone has to be," he told her.

"There's no place for us."

The couple looked into one another's eyes, and their blue and green depths almost seemed to meld their thoughts as one. The clouds moved quickly through the sunset sky, the wind gusts blew crisp and clear, and the sands of the shore swept across the land in the breeze. There didn't seem to be a more magical place in existence anywhere in the known universe.

"It is so beautiful here," she whispered, turning to stare at the overwhelming marvel of nature surrounding them.

"Like a paradise," he said quietly, staring out over the horizon.

"Paradise ..."

In an almost subconscious unison, their hands reached out to intertwine, their fingers lacing together, their hearts beating as one.

Neither of them knew what they would do or where they would go, but one mutual thought gave them all the comfort they needed.

Whatever they decided, they would face it together.

They understood.

The choice was simple.

Stay or leave?

End...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you all so very much for your support, encouragement and comments! I truly wish that I had been able to connect with each and every one of you! Please forgive the somewhat abrupt ending to the story, as I had planned more chapters, but the upcoming movie took me by surprise. I have left this story open ended in case inspiration may return and I would be able to continue it. Again, I cannot put into words how much I appreciate all of you! Thank you so much!


	10. Happy Birthday, Soldier!

* * *

 

He was accustomed to cold, but never like this.

He had known loneliness.

However, being alone and missing the person of your heart, is a chill like no other.

Opening the elevator door, Steve Rogers walked onto the tower floor he shared with Natasha Romanoff in a somber and forlorn mood. He missed her presence more than words could say. Having the entire floor as their living quarters, the expanse of space somehow seemed to make him miss her all the more.

Natasha had only been gone for a week. It felt like forever. The bond between them had been growing steadily, but both of them were still somewhat surprised by the intensity of their latent emotions. Ever since the two of them had been led on their island journey to embrace their feelings for one another, choose the salvation of Christ and find love, they had been enjoying the slow progression of their life together. Although Steve and Natasha had yet to verbalize it to one another, they were at the point at which neither of them wanted to be apart from the other.

As The Black Widow, perhaps the best female espionage agent in the world, Natasha would often accomplish the impossible. Granted, so far the new missions she had been taking had not been those which were extremely volatile or dangerous. Still, they were very significant in gathering information, and both The Captain and The Black Widow were still trying to learn how to manage the time between love and work in this new world around them.

One aspect of their relationship which was particularly surprising to Steve was just how attentive that Natasha actually was. Nothing escaped her attention. She seemed to make a point of remembering every single little thing about him … except it seemed, for his birthday.

T'challa, Ororo, Sam, Misty, Kal-El and Diana had taken him out for a long brunch. They would have kept him out all day, celebrating, exercising and relaxing, had he not purposefully cut short the festivities. Their company was good, but he was missing his Natasha, and he wanted some time to brood by himself.

In truth, it was unfair to think that Natasha had forgotten his birthday. As Steve laid his shield down and opened a window, he again told himself that Natasha was simply on a mission. He, above all, had been trained that the mission always came first. Of course she couldn't be here for him on his special day. The Black Widow may have been the best operative the espionage business, but maybe even she wasn't that good.

Just as this thought crossed his mind, there was a knock at the door.

Steve tensed, but his combat instincts didn't kick in. Still, he walked over and opened the doors warily. There were three men in dark ultra expensive suits standing in his doorway with a large light red floor standing package behind them.

"Can I help you, gentlemen?" asked Steve.

"Captain Rogers, it's truly an honor to meet you," the lead man said respectfully.

"You're a living legend," the second man said with a slight nod.

"The Sentinel of Liberty," said the third.

"Do you guys know a man named Phil?" Steve asked with a smile.

"We're here on behalf of The Trinity group. Our interim Director of Communications Ms. Natanya Romanyanova felt it would be a good media relations gesture for us to establish a positive connection with the one and only Captain America. We hope to perhaps garner your attendance at some of our media events in the future."

"What's in the package?" asked Steve.

"Unknown, sir," the lead man said as he handed Steve a small thin computer pad. "This is a postcard. It's coded with a password only you can unlock. Our task was simply to deliver this gift to you. May we bring it in?"

"Sure," said Steve, stepping back to allow them to enter.

As the two secondary emissaries pushed the rather large unmarked package from the back, the lead man guided it from the front. At first glance, it seemed too large to fit through the double wide doorway, but when turned sideways, it slipped through perfectly. The three men positioned it just inside the loft and then turned to Steve.

"On three guys," the lead man said. "One, two, three …"

The three men burst into near perfect harmony.

"Happy Birthday to you … Happy Birthday to …"

"Oh, okay, guys. Okay," Steve interrupted them. "My barbershop quartet has been dead for a lot of years, so, you're making me a little jealous here."

"Of course, sir," the lead man replied cordially. "Happy Birthday, Captain."

"Thanks, guys," Steve nodded as they exited the loft.

Left alone, Steve smiled to himself. However, he was still somewhat crestfallen. So she had sent him something. Still, it wasn't her. He wanted her.

Steve stared down at the inert pad in his hands. A password that only he would know. He paused for a long moment, then, he keyed in his first thought. He got it.

'Practice.'

He was correct on the first try. As the entry keys disappeared, an image immediately filled the screen. It was a breathtaking photograph, one obviously orchestrated just for him.

It was a pin up of Natasha Romanoff, in a sexy stylistic pose. She was laying back with her legs raised, wearing only white lingerie with velvet coloring, her cute pumps having rounded heels as if for a festive occasion. Natasha was staring at the camera with her eyes focused and a red lipstick which matched her hair color perfectly.

The caption read:

'Happy Birthday, Soldier! Love, Nat'

Steve smiled, and gave a little laugh with his boyish grin. He couldn't help but admire her beauty immensely, and he thought that maybe he might draw a replica of the photo while he waited for her to complete her mission and return. Then, he tossed the pad onto a wide table next to the cake, again crestfallen.

She had remembered. He was glad. But, she wasn't here.

Just as the pad slid to a halt, the package began to move. As Steve watched, it started to split apart at the edges. In seconds, each of the four sides were splintered and fell to the sides. Inside was a tall, full extended height cake, red white and blue of course, with the words 'Happy Birthday Soldier' iced along the side of it.

Steve only grinned. It was nice. A good gesture.

It wasn't her.

Without sparing the cake a backward glance, Steve turned and started to make his way toward their bedroom. Then, there was the slight wisp of mechanics in motion. Surprised, Steve turned back around to stare at the cake.

As he watched, the cake began to rearrange itself. With a dramatized set of bright sparkles, the panels on which the circular cake was situated separated, extended outward, and then began to lower, opening up to reveal …

Steve's pin up ... the photo … three dimensional … in real life.

Natasha was there. She was in repose, holding the exact same position in which the photograph had been captured. A slender pole positioned in the middle of the white platform she was laying on helped her maintain her balance as she gazed at him, and she held the moment, simply letting him enjoy the view.

He … was … mesmerized.

"Happy Birthday, Soldier," Natasha whispered seductively.

"You shouldn't be here," Steve said with a smile. "You're on a mission. That's supposed to come first."

"I'm multi-tasking," Natasha said as she smoothly swung her legs over the edge of her display and stood up on her high heels. "You're welcome."

"Thank you," Steve said with a smile.

"You shouldn't thank me yet," Natasha said with her trademark raised eyebrow as she started to step down. "You haven't gotten your gift yet."

"Which is?"

"My birthday suit."

Steve couldn't wait another moment. Snatching Natasha off of the display, Steve kissed her passionately as he spun her around and slammed her back against the wall next to their bedroom. In her mind's eye, Natasha happened to remember when he had slammed her against the wall of the hospital room so long ago, and the hot rush of sensual heat which had shot through her body back then. This time, the rush was much more intense. Responding instantly, she wrapped her slim legs around his broad waist as she gripped his neck tightly and kissed him back. When the two of them finally had to break for air to breathe, they laid their foreheads against one another heatedly.

"Is that a shield in your pocket, or have you been missing me?" Natasha whispered coyly.

"I've really missed you," Steve told her truthfully, realizing that he had been wanting to tell her that for days.

"Care to show me how much?" she mused.

With a little grin at her words, Steve lifted Natasha off the wall and carried her over to lay her down on the small table beside his cake.

"I think I'll have my cake … and eat it, too," he whispered huskily.

With those words, he leaned over, took a bite of cake icing, slid her panties aside, then bowed between her legs.

Oh ...

Oh, he wasn't really …

Oh, he wasn't going to …

Bozhe moi!

Instantly, her back arched high up off the table as her legs began to tremble. The contrast of the cool icing against his hot tongue sliding over her innermost sensitivity was an immediate sensory overload. She gasped loudly.

He was going to push her over the edge in record time, which in and of itself was quite a feat. As adept as the brilliant mind of the greatest soldier in history was, he had applied those skills to learning her body ever since the first time they had made love. He knew exactly how to tease, appease, and please her at his command. Sometimes, it almost seemed as if she were his canvas and the premier artist was working on his masterpiece.

Usually, Steve was always a little more reserved in their sensual play, and Natasha would enjoy drawing him out of his comfort zone. Today, on his birthday, it seemed that he was feeling a little more adventurous.

In just seconds, Steve had Natasha's body exploding from the inside. The Black Widow had writhed in pain before, but only The Captain had ever made her writhe in pleasure. She climaxed hard, both hands snatching hold of the back of his head as she gyrated against him.

Looking down at him, Natasha watched as Steve started to kiss his way up her body. He reached her navel and slipped his tongue inside, making her hiss at the sensation. Then, he started to lick his way back down toward her sensitivity again.

Oh, no, she wasn't going to just take all this pleasure lying down. She always gave as good as she got, and he was going to get it.

"Stand down, Soldier," Natasha whispered.

Moving quickly despite her shaky limbs, Natasha sprang up and roughly grabbed Steve by his wide shoulders. Pushing him up to tower over her while she sat on the edge of the table, Natasha hurriedly lifted his grey shirt up over his head and off, tossing it to the floor.

Resisting the urge to take a moment admiring the sculpted torso which she always enjoyed running her hands over, she then made short work of his pants and helped him step out of them. Grabbing hold of his waist, she forced him back against the side of the table beside her. Then, Natasha slid off the table and dropped down to her knees in front of Steve.

She slid his length to the side and pushed him along the edge of the cake, coating his manhood in tasty frosted icing, making him wince with a grin at the sensation. Then, she proceeded to sensuously lick and suck him dry, cleaning off every drop of the birthday cake. Natasha continued on him, taking him in deep, planning to bestow upon him the same favor he had given her.

The soldier knew his limits, and he knew that he couldn't take much more of this from the spy. With a loud groan, Steve reached down, easily lifted Natasha up into the air by her slim hips with his super soldier strength, and laid her back down on the table. Then, using one hand to lift her perfectly rounded derriere at an upward angle, Steve slid deep into Natasha in one smooth stroke.

Swept away by the intensity of his extreme depth inside her, she gasped loudly. Her legs locked around his waist tightly. Leaning up to wrap her arms around Steve's shoulders, Natasha pressed her face into his neck and bit down before sucking hard on his skin.

This was the bite of his Black Widow.

Steve smiled. So did Natasha. For a woman that had spent the majority of her life in the cold, experiencing the ability to feel like this was glorious.

Then, all motion stopped. Steve leaned back from Natasha as he loomed over her, gazing down deeply into her eyes.

With him having drawn her complete poise and focus, Natasha stared back up at him. Only The Soldier could interrogate The Spy like this. She knew what he wanted. She wanted to give it to him.

Three little words. Words she had never spoken in her life. She believed they were for children. At least she had … until Steve.

Her lips started to move, but no sound emanated from them.

While Natalia the woman hesitated, Natasha the widow took action. Unable to verbalize how she felt about him, she would show him. Actions spoke louder than words.

Pushing her weight up and forward, Natasha flipped Steve over onto his back underneath her, still keeping their bodies joined. Placing her small hands firmly on his broad muscular chest to hold him down, she gave him three hard thrusts, taking his entire length out of her body and then plunging him deep into her depths. This time, it was Steve's turn to groan loudly.

Quickly catching on to the fact that his lady love was trying to tip him over the edge, Steve's large hands slammed onto Natasha's slim sexy hips and gripped hard enough to stop her movement. To her extreme pleasure, Natasha's plan backfired. With his holding her still with his length buried inside her depths, feeling his body spike caused her own to climax with a strikingly powerful release. It quickly rushed through her like a tidal wave, and she lost control.

'Ya lyublyu tebya,' her mind whispered.

Moments later, breathing heavily, the two of them laid their foreheads against one another, still caressing each other's skin gently. After a long enjoyment of blissful afterglow, Steve lifted Natasha, still keeping them joined, and sat down on their sofa near the middle of the outer room. Sitting on top of him as he laid back, she stared into his eyes, wanting him to have heard the words in her mind, wondering if she had whispered them aloud.

For the moment, as if discerning her thoughts, Steve gave her a soft smile. For now, it was enough. However, just having the desire between the two of them to say these words, revealed the truth. Sooner or later, they would have to face it.

With a gentle languish love, Steve and Natasha kissed and continued caressing as their passion overtook them again … and again … and again ...

3 hours later, their whirlwind of lovemaking had finally slowed to a soothing breeze. Their sofa had been completely rearranged, the pillows had been tossed around haphazardly, and her birthday outfit was simply nowhere to be found.

Lying sprawled on their sofa, Steve and Natasha were still kissing, their lips lazily sliding all along each other, basking in a warm afterglow. Their legs were still tangled together, with them on their sides facing each other. His hands rubbed possessively over her slim hips and firm derriere, while her fingers slid along his muscular shoulders and tangled in his golden hair. They only broke for air at the sound of a single ping from her watch.

"Do you have to go back?" asked Steve.

"I need an extraction plan to get out of your arms, Rogers," Natasha answered as she planted another succulent kiss on his lips before starting to untangle them.

"You know what, Romanoff," he said, drawing a smile out of her as she sat up on the edge of the sofa.

"I was supposed to only be here for only one hour. You kept me for 3. I missed my flight."

"You let me keep you. So knowing you, I'm sure The Black Widow has a backup plan."

"Hmmm, I think we have the second of those 3 Falcon packs tucked away for safe keeping here, don't we?"

"We do," Steve answered. "But I want to know your plan. Do I need to interrogate you?"

"That could be interesting," Natasha answered him with a raised eyebrow. "My backup extraction is a low level military flight," she relented and explained with a grin as she stood and began to get dressed. "Transit scheduled. I'll make a seamless reinsertion into my objective."

Wrapping a towel around his waist, Steve stood and walked with her as she dressed. 3 hours of lovemaking, and she was ready to go in 3 minutes. Her appearance was flawless. Her makeup had been reapplied, the business dress she had put on didn't show a wrinkle, and not a strand of hair seemed to be out of place. Slipping on a black and red flight suit over her business attire, Natasha had Steve help her put on the falcon pack. The two of them walked over to their window wall and stood together as the glass opened.

"You sure about this?" asked Steve.

"Yeah," said Natasha. "It'll be fun," said Natasha, stepping off the ledge of the large window and beginning to soar into the air.

"We'll be hard pressed to top this visit on your birthday."

"Mile high club?" asked Natasha.

"Sure," smiled Steve.

"Next birthday mission?"

End

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> To all readers,
> 
> I hope you and your families are all doing well. Thank you very much for taking the time to read this story in its entirety. This most recent chapter was written for a Romanogers celebration event. To explain the timeline placement, it will occur in the ongoing story "Paradise: Genesis" in future chapters. Consider it a glimpse of future stories to come. Please enjoy it!


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